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^Pumpkin*- 


Paul West 
W.W. 
with pi 

DensLox ine 

Illustrator of jrfjiGf 
'Father Goose”and 
“The Wizard of 


G.W.Dillingham Co. 
Publishers. New York 




Copyright 
Paul West 

B^Vwv ■'f 


^vT 4 




1904 by \,r 

and W . W. Denslow 


AU rights reserved. 


tWo Owies w<*•«'«*' 

OCT 19 1901 


ionyrfffht En*’" 



/ 










Dedicated to 

Jane and Paul 




List of 


Chapters 


CHAPTER. PAGE. 

I. IN THE PUMPKIN PATCH . 7 

II. THE PIEMAN AND THE CANNER 

III. THE HALLOW E’EN PARTY . 

IV. THE ANCIENT MARINER’S STORY 

V. MOTHER CAREY’S CHICKENS 

VI. THE CORN DODGER 

VII. “ PUMPKIN-HEAD ! ” 

VJII. WHEN WISHES COME TRUE 

IX. THE NEXT DAY .... 

X. THE MAGIC SPRING 
XI. DAVY JONES’ LOCKER . 

XII. “ DOWN ! DOWN ! DOWN ! ” . 



36 

47 

58 

74 

85 


93 

102 

“5 


127 




List of Chapters 


CHAPTER. PAGE. 

XIII. UNDER THE SEA.133 

XIV. MOTHER CAREY TO THE RESCUE . 142 

XV. IN MOTHER CAREY’S PALACE . . .153 

XVI. PLOTS AND PLANS.164 

XVII. MOTHER CAREY OUTWITTED . . .176 

XVIII. AT NEPTUNE’S COMMAND . . . .186 

XIX. UP FROM THE DEPTHS . . . .199 

XX. THE PIEMAN’S TREACHERY . . .208 

XXL JOE MILLER’S RETURN . . . .221 

XXII. THE END.235 




Full=page Illustrations. 


He was a little old man. ..... 
44 Witches in the cornfield! ” . 

Each bearing a Jack-lantern on the end of a bean pole. 
“Such a howl! The pirates demanded more.” . 

44 Take this talisman f said the Fairy. 

“Don't touch me,” she cried. .... 

44 IVhat if Joe should get ripe and burst! Mercy!” . 
44 ’<S 'h, Bridget, they may hear you.” 

Down, down they plunged, Pearl clinging to Joe's hand. 
They found Pearl seated in a coral chair. 

Pearl, meanwhile, was guest of honor at dinner. 

The Corn Dodger dove in. 


The sea-horses now began to rear and 
plunge. .... 

44 The Corn Dodger must be found,” 
said Neptune. 

The Piratical crew started on a run 
with Captain Kidd leading. 

44 Pumpkin-head , / command you ap¬ 
proach.” . . . . 



PAGE. 

6 

16 

28 

42 

62 

82 

96 

118 

13° 

138 

142 

162 

184 

202 

214 

232 




















































boy. Too busy to notice that the sun 
was disappearing behind the hills; too busy 
to feel the chill evening breeze that swept 
through the cornfield, rustling the shocks and 

















THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


giving a hint of the passing of autumn and 
the coming of winter; so busy, in fact, that 
when little Pearl called to him from the edge 
of the pumpkin patch, and told him that sup¬ 
per was ready, he did not hear her, but kept 
right on at what he was doing. 

He sat on the ground in the very middle 
of the pumpkin patch, carving a face on the 
empty shell of a big, golden pumpkin. In a 
half circle on the ground about him lay 

twenty other pumpkins, each with upturned 
grinning features, showing that Joe must have 
had a very busy day if he had carved and 
scooped them all out. 

So thought Pearl, as she leaned over the 
stone wall and watched him cut a square 

piece from the other side of the pumpkin 

and scoop out the seeds with his chubby 

brown hand. Then he sealed the empty shell 
with the square piece and laid the finished 
product with the others. 

But he was not through his labors as little 
Pearl supposed, for he rose and rummaged 
among the vines till he found another pumpkin. 
And such a pumpkin it was, to be sure 1 


IN THE PUMPKIN PATCH. 


9 


Resting in a bed of green, how much it was 
like the great sun now more than half hidden 
behind the green hills! It was as large as any 
four other pumpkins in the field; two children 
with hands clasped could not have surrounded 
it. A giant pumpkin! A monster pumpkin! 

Although Joe tried with all his might to roll 
the big vegetable over, he could not budge 
it, and he grunted so (just like the hired 
man when anyone watched him at work), that 
Pearl laughed merrily, and the spell was 
broken. 

The boy turned and saw her. He saw with 
surprise how dark it was, and he rubbed his eyes. 

“Hello, Pearl,” he said, “is that you?” 

“Yes,” replied the little girl, 

“ and you must come 
right home. Supper’s 
been ready a 
long while.” 

Joe laid his 
hand fondly 
on the big 
pumpkin. 

“ Can’t I just 



IO 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 



fix this last one ? ” he asked. But the little 
girl shook her curls decidedly. 

“ No, you can’t,” she said. “ You’ll be late 
for the party.” 

“But I’m making Jack-lanterns for the party,” 
the boy insisted, and he might have returned to 
the giant pumpkin had not Pearl clambered 
over the stone wall and put her hand on his 
sleeve. She was only seven and Joe Miller 
was a man of ten, but he nearly 
always did as she wished. 

So he laughed, took her hand, 
and helped her over the wall, 


















IN THE PUMPKIN PATCH. 


and they trudged down the path toward the 
farmhouse. 

“ I suppose,” he said, “ if you say so I’ll have 
to come, but after supper, before the party begins, 
I’ll hurry out here and finish that big pumpkin.” 

“Joe!” 

“ What, Pearly ? ” 

“You wouldn’t come out here all alone in the 
dark—and on Hallow E’en ! ” 

Joe laughed bravely. 

“Pshaw!” he replied, “Why not? I’m not 
afraid of the witches. If any come near me I’ll 
just cross my fingers and stand near that big elm, 
and say, 

“ ‘ Witches, witches, can’t touch me. 

Cross my fingers and touch a tree ! ’ 

“ Then I’d like to see one that dared do any¬ 
thing.” 

“ But Joe-” 

“Besides, the moon’s full, and some of the other 
boys will be with me. Don’t be scared, Pearly.” 

Of course, Pearl knew that Joe was very 
brave, but this was Hallow E’en. Besides, what 
could the pumpkins have to do with the party 
that was to be given in the barn? 



12 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


Joe must have guessed what she was thinking 
about, for he said: 

“ We’re going to have a lot of fun with those 
Jack-lanterns. We’ll put candles in them, stick 
them on bean poles, and when it’s good and dark 
we’ll have a hobgoblin parade. But you mustn’t 
tell anybody, and you mustn’t be scared.” 

Pearl promised, and they walked on toward the 
farmhouse. 

Pearl’s father, who owned the 
farm, was called Farmer Pringle 
all through Vermont, for the 
fame of the wonderful things 
raised by him had made him 
well known. But 
he was not really 
a farmer. He was 
a city merchant who 
came each May day with 
his wife and little girl 
to the country and re¬ 
mained till November. 

But he took great pride 
in having his acres pro¬ 
duce bigger potatoes, 




IN THE PUMPKIN PATCH. 


i3 


juicier melons and finer corn than those of 
his neighbors’, and every year his cattle, fruits 
and vegetables took first prize at County Fair. 
As for the pumpkins raised on the Pringle 
farm, they were the best in the world, said 
everybody, and were sought by pie-makers 
and canned-preserves men from all over the 
country. 

Some credit for this was due to Joe Mil¬ 
ler, Farmer Pringle’s nephew, for Joe, though 
only a boy, had taken care of the pumpkin 
patch all summer, and the pumpkins had 
never been so large or solid. 

“I think Joe has some secret for making 

pumpkins grow,” said Farmer Pringle one 
day. “ I never saw anything like it.” 

Whether this was so or not, he had 
given Joe permission to use all the pump¬ 
kins he wanted for Jack-lanterns for Hal¬ 
low E’en, and Joe had picked out twenty- 

one of the biggest for himself and his boy 

friends. 

Every year Farmer Pringle gave a party 
in the big barn, and invited all the village 
folk. Hallow E’en was the date, and the 


14 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


family returned to the city next day. This 
year, as Pearl was such a big girl, the party 
was given in her name, and she was all ex¬ 
pectation as she thought of her duties as 
hostess. 

But one thing troubled her little head, and 
that was all the fault of Hiram, the farm 
boy, who had been her playmate till this 
summer, when Joe Miller came. Pearl liked 
Joe much better than she did Hiram, and 
this had put the country boy’s nose out of 
joint, as they say, so that he 
often made fun of Joe, and 
called him a “ city chap ”—but 
always behind Joe’s back. When 
Pearl told him that Joe was 
in the pumpkin patch this after¬ 
noon, Hiram laughed 
and said, 

“Well, he’d better look 
out. The pumpkin patch 
and the cornfield are full 
of witches.” 

Pearl was thinking 
> of what Hiram had 




IN THE PUMPKIN PATCH. 


i5 


said as she and Joe walked on in the gather¬ 
ing darkness. 

“Joe,” she pleaded, “you’re not really going 
out to the pumpkin patch after supper, are 
you? You—you just said it to tease me, 
didn’t you ? ” 

“ Scared cat! ” laughed Joe. “ Didn’t I tell 
you how I could keep the witches away ? 
Besides, if you’re so afraid, you can stand in 
the doorway and watch me. You can see the 
pumpkin patch from the house. Look.” 

They had reached the gravel path that led 
to the front door. Behind them on the hill 
was the pumpkin patch. The full moon was 
just rising beyond the hill, and as the chil¬ 
dren turned to look they saw outlined against 
its silvery surface two figures. 

One was tall and thin, the other short and 
fat, and both were waving their arms exci¬ 
tedly and jumping about. 

Pearl and Joe were held spellbound for a 
moment. Then they turned and rushed into 
the house with such frightened faces that the 
family arose from the supper table in alarm, 
and Farmer Pringle cried, 


i6 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 



“Whatever is the matter?” 

“ Witches in the cornfield ! ” 
shouted the children together. 















44 IVitches in 


the cornfield! * y 
















THE PIEMAN AND THE CANNER. 

ITCHES! If Pearl and Joe 
had given the two figures a second 
look how they would have laughed at them¬ 
selves for being so silly! For in the short 
one they would surely have recognized an 

































18 THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 

old friend, Mr. John Doe, the village pie¬ 
man. Many a ginger cookie and jelly roll 
had John Doe left at the Pringle farmhouse, 
taking in pay pumpkins, rhubarb, currants and 
peaches with which to make pies. If he was 
a witch it was in the matter of making pies. 
John Doe’s apple pies, John Doe’s pumpkin 
pies—but let’s not talk about them. It makes 
us too hungry! 

He was usually the jolliest of men; but as 
he stood by the edge of the pumpkin patch 
looking at the empty shells with their grinning 
faces, he seemed angry and excited. Over and 
over and over again he said, in a tearful 
voice, 

“Think of it! The makings of a hundred 
pies! A hundred pies! ” And every time he 
said this, the other man nodded his head and 
said, 

“ And pumpkins scarcer than hens’ teeth, 
too! ” 

This person the children would not have 
recognized; but John Doe seemed to know 
him. He was tall and stylishly dressed. His 
silk hat, gloved hands and patent-leather shoes 


THE PIEMAN AND THE CANNER. 


19 


were out of place in a 
pumpkin patch. But he 
did not seem to care, 
and kicked a pumpkin 
now and then with the 
toe of his boot. 

It is always well to 
learn the names of peo¬ 
ple of whom we are 
going to see much, so 
we will imagine that 
the stranger has just 
given us his card, which 
reads: 


<0 CLr'HsVUGsnt’ 
CAN-adian Ameri-CAN 
CAN-ning Company 
My motto is — “/ CAN/" 


“ It’s an outrage,” ex¬ 
claimed John Doe. “My 
customers saying they 
won’t buy pies unless 
they’re made of Pringle’s 
pumpkins, and he al- 









20 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


lowing that Joe Miller to use them for Jack- 
lanterns ! ” 

“ My case is ,worse,” said Mr. Cannem. “ I’ve 
come all the way from my canning factory in 
Bermuda to get a sample of this particular 
brand of pumpkin, which is the only kind 
that will grow down there. And not one 
left! ” 

“ I offered Pringle five times what I ever 
paid for pumpkins before,” continued the Pie¬ 
man, “and when I found he had given them 
all to that pesky boy for Hallow E’en foolish¬ 
ness I was so mad I let a whole ovenful of 
peach tarts burn to a crisp.” 

While John Doe was speaking, Cannem had 
stepped further into the patch, and suddenly 
caught sight of the giant pumpkin that Joe 
had failed to hollow out. He tapped it with 
his boot, and from the sound knew that it 
was solid. 

“ Hello,” he exclaimed, “ here’s one the boy 
hasn’t touched.” 

“No!” said John Doe, “Really?” 

“ He must have forgotten it,” said Cannem. 
“And if he has it’s ours. Let’s roll it down 


THE PIEMAN AND THE CANNER. 


21 


the hill to your wagon, take it to your bake- 
shop and divide it. It isn’t much, but it’s 
better than nothing.” 

“ No,” said the Pieman, shaking his head, 
“ I wouldn't dare to. That boy never forgot 
a whopper like this, and if he told Farmer 
Pringle it was gone, and the farmer found I’d 
taken it he’d never sell me as much as a 
pint of gooseberries again.” 

“ What shall we do then ? ’ 

“ Leave the pumpkin here, and ask Pringle 
to sell it to us. Seeing as it’s the last one, 
I guess he will.” 

“Very well. But first let’s have supper.” 

So the Pieman and the Canner, with a last 
fond look at the great, glistening pumpkin, 
crept down the road to where John Doe’s 
pie-wagon was standing, and drove off in the 
direction of the village. 

As the wagon started, Cannem turned to 
Doe, saying, 

“Did you hear that?” 

“ What ? ” asked the Pieman. 

“That laugh.” 

They listened. From the cornfield, which 



piled-up corn shocks waving their loose 
ends like arms. What they did not see 
was the giant pumpkin freeing itself from 
the stem by a wriggle, and rolling to¬ 
ward the stone wall at the edge of the 






















THE PIEMAN AND THE CANNER. 


23 


patch, against which it bumped and lay still 
again. 

“What is it?’’ asked Cannem, in a whisper. 

“Oh, just some of the village people coming 
to Farmer Pringle’s party,” said the Pieman. 
And they drove off. But in the cornfield the 
chuckling grew louder, and from the biggest 
shock in the middle of the field came a long, 
rippling laugh. 

A very peculiar cornfield! An extremely 
odd cornfield! 

But then, this was Hallow E’en, you know. 












LESSED in her prettiest frock, 
Pearl received the village people in the big 
barn, which was decorated with autumn leaves, 
sumac and golden rod for the great occasion. 
To the grown people she managed to appear 


CHAPTER III. 


THE HALLOW E’EN PARTY. 


















THE HALLOW E’EN PARTY. 


25 


very dignified and quite like a lady, saying 
“How do you do?” and “So glad to see 
you,” in just the tone of voice her mother 
used at her receptions in the city. But when 
the children came Pearl gave up trying to 
be stiff and formal, and was soon romping 
with the merriest of them. 

Even Hiram, the farm boy, to whom the 
fickle little maid had scarcely spoken since he 
had begun to show his dislike for Joe so 
openly, found himself dancing and laughing 
with Pearl, and was quite overjoyed. Games 
were played, charms were tried, and no chil¬ 
dren ever had a better time, till, suddenly, 
Mrs. Pringle, in arranging a dance, discov¬ 
ered that several of the boys were missing. 

“Why,” she said, in surprise, “Where’s Joe 
Miller?” 

“ He was here a moment ago,” said Mr. 
Dudley, the village schoolmaster. “ I was talk¬ 
ing to him about his way of making pump¬ 
kins grow.” 

Then it was found that nearly all the boys 
had disappeared, no one seemed to know 
where. But Pearl knew, and so did Hiram. 


26 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


The little girl recalled with dread Joe’s in¬ 
tended return to the pumpkin patch, and 
Hiram was quick to notice her alarm. He 
had overheard Joe give the signal to several 
of the boys to follow him, and was quite 
angry at not having been included in the 
fun. 

‘•Huh!” said he to Pearl, “I wouldn’t want 
to be with them out there. The place, is just 
full of witches and goblins, and they’ll wish 
they hadn’t gone. Why, I looked up on the 
hill, just a little while ago, and I saw-” 

What Hiram had seen will never be known, 
for at that moment the big barn doors were 
thrown open from outside, and in the darkness 
appeared a crowd of grinning faces, jumping 
about in the air with no apparent support. 
Their eyes, noses and mouths gleamed like 
fire, and their strange antics were accompanied 
by shivery sounds that made the littlest chil¬ 
dren run to their mothers and hide their ears 
and eyes in their gowns. 

Even Pearl, who for the moment forgot all 
that Joe had told her about the hobgoblin 
parade, began to be frightened, but before she 


THE HALLOW E’EN PARTY. 


27 



could reach her mother’s side Mr. Pringle and 
some of the men had rushed out and returned 
with the merry boys, each bearing a Jack-lan¬ 
tern on the end of a bean pole. Last of all 
came Joe Miller, laughing at the success of his 
little plan, but without any Jack-lantern of his 
own. 

“ Why, Joe,” said Pearl, “ I thought you 



28 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


were going to have the biggest pumpkin for 
yours ? ” 

" Yes,” said his uncle, “ where is it, Joe ? ” 

“ It’s the queerest thing I ever saw,” said 
Joe. “But when I had fixed the other boys’ 
lanterns, and went to get my big pumpkin off 

the vine I couldn’t find it at first. Then 

I did, but it was away over against the 

stone wall, though I don’t know how it got 

there. But I took out my knife and started 
to carve one eye on it, and it rolled away 
from me just as though it was alive. I 
chased it, but it rolled right through a hole 
in the stone wall into the cornfield, and 
though I followed as fast as I could I didn’t 
find it.” 

“Witches!” cried Hiram to Pearl. “What 
did I tell you?” 

“Pooh!” said Joe. “I’ll go back there and 
find it bye and bye.” 

At this moment Mr. John Doe arrived, and 
with him our new friend, the Canner. The 
Pieman introduced Mr. Cannem to Farmer 
Pringle, and they soon found a chance to make 
an offer for the big pumpkin. 



Each bearing a 
on the end of 


Jack-lantern, 
a bean pole. 












THE HALLOW E’EN PARTY. 


29 


“You’ll have to ask Joe about that,” said 
he, “It belongs to him.” 

But when Joe was spoken to all he could 
do was to shake his head and tell how the 
big pumpkin had rolled away from him. 

“ It’s probably just rolled in among the 
corn-shocks,” said the Pieman, who did not 
believe in witches. “I think I could find it.’ 

“If we do,” said the Canner, “will you sell 
it to us ? ” 

“ Perhaps,” said Joe. 

Without another word the Pieman and the 
Canner turned on their heels and hurried off 
to the pumpkin patch. 

Farmer Pringle had saved the 
best game of the 
evening for the last. 

If you have ever 
bobbed for apples 
you know what fun 
it is. A big tub 
filled to the brim 
with water was 
pushed into the 
*“3 middle of the barn 




3 ° 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


floor, and a dozen fine, 
red apples thrown on 
the surface of the water. 

Then Farmer Pringle 
explained the game for 
those who had never 
played it, and the fun 
began. 

First to play was Johnny Farnum, 
the village fat boy. His hands were tied ^ 
behind his back, and he was told that he q, 
would get a prize if he could take a 
bite from one of the floating apples in the 
big tub. Beaming with confidence, Johnny 
leaned over the tub and tried to set his 
teeth in the largest of the apples. But the 
moment his mouth touched its red cheek 
the apple sank, to bob up again a foot 
away. Nothing daunted, Johnny tried again 
and again, till, finally losing patience and 
growing provoked by the shouts of laughter of 
the other children, he bit savagely at the tanta¬ 
lizing apple and buried his face in the water. 

He emerged with his eyes closed, splutter¬ 
ing, while the barn rang with merriment. 





THE HALLOW E’EN PARTY. 


3 i 


As he untied Johnny’s hands Farmer Pringle 
said, 

“ I’m afraid that if you always waited to get 
apples that way, you’d go without! ” 

Finally it was Joe’s turn. 

“Now,” said everyone, “we shall see exactly 
how it should be done.” 

For Joe was looked upon as being a very bright 
boy, and, besides, it was noticed that he had 
watched the efforts of the other boys very care¬ 
fully, and was not liable to make the same 
mistakes. 

Joe, with his hands tied behind his back, 
marched proudly to the tub. He leaned over 
and, selecting a splendid apple as his prey, 
bent his head till his mouth nearly touched it. 
But he did not bite at the apple sharply. He 
had seen that this would not do. 

Slowly, carefully, he opened his mouth. 
Then he reached nearer to the apple, and 
began to close his teeth as carefully as he had 
opened them. They touched the sides of the 
apple. 

Everyone was craning his neck to see what 
Joe would do next. The apple did not move 


3 2 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


away from him as it had from the others. 
Closer and closer together he brought his 
teeth, till it seemed as though now he could 
surely seize the apple between them. Those 
nearest the tub could see Joe’s teeth entering 
the skin of the fruit; could hear them crunch¬ 
ing it carefully, and then - 

His feet flew from under him; he pitched 
head foremost into the tub with a splash that 
threw a shower of water into the air. Pearl 
and the girls screamed, the boys shouted with 
joy, and Farmer Pringle, rushing forward, 
caught Joe by the heels and tried to pull 
him out. 








THE HALLOW E’EN PARTY. 


33 


knew that he was in trouble, and the Pie¬ 
man and the Canner, who entered the barn 
while this was happening, ran to help Farmer 
Pringle. 

“ I can’t get out,” cried Joe. 

“ Pull, pull,” shouted Pearl’s father. 

“ Now, altogether,” said the Pieman, and with 
a heave they exerted all their strength. There 
was a splash as they lifted Joe from the tub, 
and all fell in a heap on the floor. At the 
same instant there came a voice from the big 
tub saying, 

“ Wait for me! ” 

Spellbound, grown people and children 

looked, and saw, standing up to his waist in 
the water, the strangest creature that had ever 
met their view. 

He was a little, old man, with a tanned and 
weather-beaten face, from which hung a mass 
of tangled white whiskers. On his head was 
an oil-skin cap of the kind that sailors call 
“sou’westers.” The collar of his oil-skin coat 
was turned up high about his ears. In one 
hand he held an old crossbow, and in the 

other he carried a large white bird with a red 


34 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


beak, and web feet which dangled down under 
his arm. 

Seaweed hung in festoons from the stranger’s 
hat and coat, and from a side pocket peeped 
a crab, which immediately withdrew from sight, 
waving its claws. The old man’s presence filled 
the barn with the savor of the deep, deep 
sea. 

Turning to Joe, Farmer Pringle said, 

“My boy, is this one of your jokes?” 

But Joe could only stare at his uncle. Now 
the Pieman stepped forward and demanded of 
the old man, who still stood in the middle of 
the tub. 

“Well, sir, who are you, and what do you 
want ?” 

The sea-faring man turned his sad, gray eyes 
toward the Pieman, and said, in a voice that 
seemed to come from the barn cellar, 

“ Might I trouble you for a glass of water ? ” 

“Water!” cried Farmer Pringle, “Water 1 
Why, you look as though you had plenty! ” 

The stranger raised the arm holding the 
crossbow, swept his hand before him, and 
replied, 


Water, water everywhere; 

f\N/ , 

But not a drop to drink! 

At these words Mr. Dudley, the School¬ 
master, ran forward, crying, 

“Welcome, welcome, illustrious sir!” Then, 
turning to all, “ Don’t you recognize him ? ” 
“No,” came the answer. “Who is he?” 

“ Who,” said the Schoolmaster, shaking the 
old man’s hand, and helping him to step 
from the tub, “Who but the Ancient Mar¬ 
iner!” 







the old man, heartily, slapping the School¬ 
master on the back and leaving there the 
mark of a large, wet hand. “ Right you are, 
but how did you guess?” 











THE ANCIENT MARINER’S STORY. 


37 


“Why,” laughed the Schoolmaster, “we 
knew you by your crossbow.” 

“Yes,” added Farmer Pringle, “and by the 
albatross.” 

At this the Ancient Mariner, for it was he, 
hugged the body of the bird closer to his 
side, and burst into tears, sobbing, 

“I am sorry I did it, I am sorry I did it; 
but it was a new crossbow and I wanted to 
try it on something alive.” 

The older children, and most of the grown¬ 
ups, I suppose, knew what it was that the 
Ancient Mariner was so sorry for. But 
the little ones, like Pearl, had never heard 
of him and wondered at his tears. Joe saw 
the puzzled frown on Pearl’s face and, while 
Farmer Pringle was trying to cheer the An¬ 
cient Mariner, he explained the situation to 
her. 

“ You see, Pearl,” said Joe, “ the Ancient 
Mariner was a sailor, and sailors think it’s 
awful bad luck to shoot an albatross, which is 
a bird like that one he’s carrying. But the 
Ancient Mariner shot one, and then there came 
a great calm over the ocean, and the crew 


38 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


died of fever and thirst, and ever since then 
he’s been travelling all over the world telling 
folks how it happened.” 

The Ancient Mariner must have had very 
sharp ears, for he overheard Joe and, turning 
to him, said, 

“ Who’s been here ahead of me, spinning 
my yarn?” 

“ Nobody, sir,” replied Joe, “ I read all about 
you in a poem.” 

“A poem!” exclaimed the old man. “And 
who’s been writing any poems about me ? 
Show him to me ! ” 

The Schoolmaster hastened to assure the 
Ancient Mariner that the man who had made 
him famous in a poem had been dead many 
years. This seemed to relieve his mind, for 
he was soon seated before the big stove, in 
which there was a roaring fire, drinking a cup 
of hot coffee, and smiling. 

“ And now, sir, if you are quite comfort¬ 
able-” began Farmer Pringle. 

“Quite,” said the Ancient Mariner. “And 
all I ask is, don’t bother me no more.” 

“ But,” Farmer Pringle insisted, “ don’t you 





THE ANCIENT MARINER’S STORY. 39 

think we ought to be told how you happened 
to make your appearance through that tub of 
water, and what you want here?” 

“All in good time,” said the old man. 
“ Another cup of coffee, please.” 

Seeing that it would do no good to hurry 
him, Farmer Pringle motioned to everyone to 
leave the old man alone till he had finished 
his coffee. The Ancient Mariner swallowed the 
second cupful at a gulp, as he had the first, 
and, with his crossbow on his knees and the 










40 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


all about how I happened to do it, and how 
sorry I was. It got pretty tiresome, telling 
the same story over and over again, and one 
day I sat beside the sea, wishing it was all 
ended. 

“Suddenly a big wave came rolling in, and 
before I could say ‘Jack Robinson ’ I was 
going down, down, down to the very bottom 
of the ocean. I suppose I was drowned, for 
the next thing I knew I was lying in a snug 
bunk and an old man was bending over me. 
As I opened my eyes, he says, 

“ ‘ Ahoy, Shipmate, so you’ve come to board 

with me, eh ? ’ 












“‘May-be I have,’ says I. ‘Where 
am I, anyway?’ 

“‘You’re where all sailor men 
go sooner or later,’ says he, ‘ in 
Davy Jones’ locker, and I’m Davy 
Jones.’ 

“ Sure enough, I was in that 
happy spot under the waves, the 
home of sunken ships and sea-far¬ 
ing men who never come back to 
shore, and a right good place it 
turned out to be. Davy set a good 
table, his house was clean, and the 
scenery was grand. But he did 
have some uncomfortable boarders, 
such as Captain Kidd, Blackbeard, 
and other pirates. 

“They were never satisfied, these pirates, and 
always complaining about the food, though 
goodness knows, poor old Davy had hard 
work to feed all those mouths, with no help 
but a lot of mermaids that were always think- 








42 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


ing more about combing their hair than get¬ 
ting dinner. 

“ But affairs reached their height one day 
when a Yankee ship came sinking down from 
above with a hole clean through her. We 
searched her larder, and found among other 
things a lot of pumpkin pies. They were a 
trifle water-soaked, to be sure, but when you 
haven’t had a pumpkin pie for a hundred 
years ’most any kind of a pumpkin pie tastes 
good. 

“ And how those pirates did eat those pies! 
They never complained about anything while 
the pies lasted, and Davy was beginning to 
think he had got them satisfied, when one day 
the last of the pies were gone. 

“Such a howl! The pirates demanded more. 
Davy showed them the empty pantry in the 
coral caves. ‘ Then make some,’ says the 
pirates. ‘ How can I,’ says Davy, without any 
pumpkins ? ’ ‘ Grow some pumpkins,’ says the 

pirates, ‘or we’ll pull your house down over 
your ears.’ 

“So Davy appealed to me. 

“‘Ancient,’ says he, ‘what can I do? I’ve 








along but a flying fish we happened to know. 
He had been chatting with a crow, he said, 
that very morning, who had told him of a 
wonderful boy up in Vermont who had in¬ 
vented a pumpkin that would grow anywhere. 

‘“That’s the boy for me,’ says Davy. ‘Ancient, 
will you make a trip back to earth and see if 
you can find him ? ’ 

“ I was off on the back of the next shark 
that came along, and here I am. As for my 
coming up through that tub of water, it was 
all arranged by Mother Carey, who is a sort 









44 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


of fairy godmother to everyone under the sea. 
And now, if I could have another cup of coffee, 
and you could tell me if you ever heard of 
that boy the flying fish told us about, I’d 
be obliged.” 

Can you imagine how Joe Miller felt as he 
heard the Ancient Mariner’s story? Had his 
fame as a pumpkin raiser reached the bottom 
of the ocean ? He felt very proud at the 
thought. 

Then another idea came to him. 

It was true that he had discovered a secret 
by which he believed that he could make 
pumpkins grow better and bigger and in places 
where a pumpkin had never grown before. 
But it was his secret. Why should he give 
it to everyone ? No, he would not tell the 
Ancient Mariner. 

Whether the old man was able to read 
Joe’s thoughts or not, he cast a searching 
glance toward the boy at that moment, and 
Joe blushed and hid behind some other lads. 

“ Aha! ” thought the Ancient Mariner, “ I 
believe that’s the boy! ” 

At this moment Farmer Pringle looked at 


THE ANCIENT MARINER’S STORY. 


45 


his watch and discovered that it was nearly 
midnight. 

“ Attention! ” he called. “ This is Hallow 
E’en, and you all know that at the hour of 
twelve the most wonderful things are said to 
happen. Witches dance, charms come true, 
wishes are granted. Some of you may want 
to try some of these wonders. So, as your 
parents are willing, I’m going to take you all 
out to the cornfield, where the boys and girls 
can see for themselves if the stories about 
Hallow E’en are true or just fairy tales.” 

How the children cheered! This was indeed 
a treat for them. All was bustle and com¬ 
motion, as the girls, who had found a big 
broken mirror, divided it into smaller pieces, 
so that each might carry a bit to the corn¬ 
field, and there, in the light of the moon, 
gaze into it and see the face of her beau 
reflected over her shoulder. 

The boys chattered gaily of tricks that they 
would play on the girls, and the barn door 
was thrown open, revealing the cornfield on 
the hill, and the moon shining above it. 

As the procession, headed by Joe and Pearl 


46 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


and the Schoolmaster, started from the barn, 
Farmer Pringle turned to the Ancient Mariner, 
who still sat by the stove, and said, 

“Won’t you come along, sir, and join the 
fun? Afterward we can talk about Davy Jones 
and the pumpkins.” 

But the Ancient Mariner shook his head, 
and, pointing to John Doe and the Canner, 
who also lingered, said, 

“ No, thanks, Captain. These gentlemen and 
I are going to wait here for you if you don’t 
mind.” 

“ Not at all,” said Farmer Pringle. Then, 
turning to the impatient children, “Come on, 
boys and girls, to the cornfield.” 

The merry procession, shouting and laugh¬ 
ing, ran into the moonlight. The Pieman and 
the Canner and the Ancient Mariner watched 
the last one leave the barn, and then the old 
man, with surprising agility, hurried across the 
barn floor and shut the big door. 



Ancient Mariner, fixing his glittering eye on 
the Pieman and the Canner, “ what’s to be 
done ? ” 


“ Done ? ” they repeated, “ What do you 
mean?” 

“ O, come,” laughed the old man, “ don’t try 













48 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


to fool the Ancient Mariner. You are a pie¬ 
man, I believe, Mr. Cake?” 

“ Doe,” said the Pieman. 

“ Excuse me, Mr. Doe. And your friend is 
a Canner. Exactly. So you’re both interested 
in pumpkins, similar to me. And my glitter¬ 
ing eye tells me that you’re both worried. 
And what does my glittering eye tell me 
you’re worried about, Mr. Pie ? ” 

“ Doe,” said the Pieman. 

“ Doe it is, sir. Why, about pumpkins, to 
be sure. And, being pumpkins, you’re natu¬ 
rally interested in that boy, Joe Miller, for I 
know, and you know, and the flying fish that 
told Davy Jones knew, that he’s the boy with 
the wonderful secret for making pumpkins 
grow. That’s what my glittering eye tells me, 
Mr. -” 

“ Doe,” said the Pieman. “ You’re quite 
right, sir. But it’s no use trying to get Joe’s 
secret. He won’t tell it. We’ve both tried, 
and failed.” 

And then he told the Ancient Mariner all 
about the way Joe had used the pumpkin 
crop for Jack-lanterns, and the strange affair 



MOTHER CAREY’S CHICKENS. 


49 


of the giant pumpkin, which had rolled away 
from the boy and hidden itself in the corn¬ 
field. 

At this the Ancient Mariner jumped to his 
feet. 

“Cornfield,” he exclaimed. “Did you say 
there was a cornfield near the pumpkin patch?” 

“ Right next to it,” replied the Canner. 
“ Why ? ” 

“ I see it all,” said the Ancient Mariner. 
“ Shipmates, it’s necessary for us to get that 
big pumpkin. The Pieman must have some 
of it for pies, Mr. Canner needs a slice or 
two to plant in Bermuda, and if I don’t take 
part of it back to Davy Jones to plant under 
the ocean to raise pumpkin pies for those 
pirates, I shall never dare go back. But if 
it’s rolled into the cornfield there’s only one 
person who can get it for us.” 

“And who is that?” asked the Pieman and 
the Canner together. 

“The Corn Dodger, Shipmates.” 

“ The Corn Dodger ? ” repeated Mr. Can- 
nem. “ Who is he ? ” 

“I don’t suppose you ever heard of him,” 


5° 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


said the Ancient Mariner, “ but the Corn 
Dodger is the sprite that rules everything that 
grows in the ground. He’s the guardian spirit 
of the corn and all such garden truck, in¬ 
cluding pumpkins. If the potatoes don’t be¬ 
have he sends potato-bugs to punish them. 
No mortal ever sees him, but people like me, 
who are sort of half-ghosts, all know him. 
This being Hallow E’en, he’s more likely to 
show himself, and if we can find him, and he’s 
in a good humor, he may help us. If not, 
there’s nothing to be done.” 

“ Then let’s find the Corn Dodger,” said 
the Pieman, hastily. “ Come 
his crossbow and the 
Albatross, the Ancient 
Mariner followed the Pie¬ 
man and the Canner 
across the barn floor. As 
they reached the big 
door it flew open, and 
Hiram Hubbard, the farm 
boy, trembling in every 
limb, fell at their feet, 
crying, 







MOTHER CAREY’S CHICKENS. 


5i 


“ Oh, save me! ” 

At the same moment a shout of boyish 
laughter was heard, and Joe Miller’s voice cry¬ 
ing, 

“Oh, Hiram! ’Fraid cat! ’Fraid cat!” 

Then a Jack-lantern flashed in the darkness 
and disappeared. 

“What’s the matter, Hiram?” asked the 
Pieman. 

“Oh,” cried the boy, “did you see it? It 
came rushing at me out of the darkness and 
chased me all the way back here. Don’t let it 
get me.” 

The Ancient Mariner laughed loud and 
long. “ Why,” said he, “ that was only Joe 
Miller and another of his Jack-lanterns.” 

“ Well,” said Hiram, frowning, “ if it was I’ll 
get even. Joe’s been scaring me all night 
with those things, and I won’t stand it any 
more.” 

An idea seemed to strike the Ancient Mari¬ 
ner, and he whispered to the Canner. 

“Maybe this boy can help us,” he said. 
“Joe won’t tell us his secret, but he might 
tell another boy like Hiram.” 


52 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


The Canner nodded his head, and spoke to 
Hiram, telling him what they wished to find 
out. 

“You get Joe’s secret,” he said, “and we’ll 
help you to get even with him for scaring 
you.” 

“ I’ll do it,” said Hiram. 

“We must hurry,” said the Ancient Mari¬ 
ner, “for if I don’t start back for Davy Jones’ 
locker in half an hour he’ll be up here 
for me, and there’s no telling what he might 
do.” 

With the Pieman leading the way, and 
Hiram following in the rear, trembling at every 
sound, the quartette soon reached the cornfield, 
where they found the merry-makers in the 
midst of their fun. 

In the bright moonlight, the shocks of corn 
husks looked like great, silent sentinels, their 
loose leaves waving in the night wind like 
many arms. The field was covered with these 
shocks, to the number of fifty or more, and in 
the very center stood one larger than all the 
rest. At this the Ancient Mariner looked 
closely with his glittering eye, as he, the 



Pieman, the Canner 
and Hiram entered the 
cornfield. 

Said he to the Pie¬ 
man, 

“ If the Corn Dodger 
is about here, and there 
can’t be much doubt 
of it, my glittering eye 
tells me that he’s hid¬ 
ing in that big corn 
shock in the middle of 
the field. If we could 
only get the other folks 
away for awhile I’d 
find out.” 

While trying to 
think of some 
plan to do this, 
the Ancient 
Mariner and his 
friends mingled 
with the crowd 
of fun-makers. 

Hiram led Joe 



















54 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


Miller aside as soon as he could, and tried by 
every means to get him to tell his secret of 
making pumpkins grow. But Joe said he had 
no time now to explain it. 

“ Some day, Hiram,” said he, “ I’ll tell you 
all about it. Now, I want to play.” 

The Pieman and the Canner searched about 
the bottoms of the corn shocks to see if the 
giant pumpkin was concealed in one of them, 
but their efforts to find it were useless. 
Wherever the Corn Dodger had taken it he 
had hidden it well. 

Pearl noticed their actions, and now and 
then caught the An¬ 
cient Mariner’s glitter¬ 
ing eye as he fixed it 
on Joe. Besides, she 
had overheard Hiram 
trying to get Joe’s 
secret. All this made 
the little girl uneasy, 
and, as Joe came to her 








MOTHER CAREY’S CHICKENS. 


55 


to ask her to join him in a new game, she 
said, 

“Joe, don’t go very far away from papa 
till we get back to the house; will you, 

please ? ” 

“Why not, Pearl?” laughed the boy. “I’m 
not afraid of witches.” 

“ It isn’t witches,” said Pearl, “ unless the 
Ancient Mariner is a witch. You know what 
he said about coming up here to get some 
pumpkins from you to take under the sea? 
And the Pieman and that Canner man want 
some, too; and I heard Hiram trying to make 
you tell him how you grow such wonderful 

pumpkins. Oh, Joe, haven’t you seen how the 
Ancient Mariner looks at you all the time ? 
I’m afraid they’re going to do something to 
you.” 

“ Don’t be silly,” said the boy, but his voice 

trembled a little as he said it, for he could feel 

a chilly sensation at the back of his neck, and 
knew that it was the Ancient Mariner looking 
at him. “I studied hard and worked hard to 
find out how to make the biggest pumpkins 
grow, and they won’t get my secret or a single 


•$6 THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 

pumpkin. But let’s not think about it now. 
We’ve got to go home in a few minutes, and 
must have a good time till then.” 

So busily had the two children been talking 
that they had not seen the others hurrying to 
the very furthest corner of the cornfield, where 
there was a group of old trees, and a spring 
over which the boys and girls were going to 
try some charms. As Joe, holding Pearl’s hand, 
turned to follow the others, the cornfield be¬ 
came suddenly as dark as though the moon 
had not been shining, and for a moment he 
and Pearl stood trembling with fear and sur¬ 
prise. But the next instant the shock of corn 
nearest them seemed surrounded with a circle 
of green light, and out of the ground before it 
stepped a beautiful lady, bearing a wand. She 
smiled sweetly at the astonished children, and 
waved her wand. At this, eight others, each 
nearly as beautiful, appeared beside her. Then 
the first who had appeared spoke, and her 
voice was so pleasant that whatever fear the 
children might have had vanished instantly. 

“ I wish you a merry Hallow E’en,” said the 
lady. “ Do you know who I am ? ” 


MOTHER CAREY’S CHICKENS. 


57 


“Y-yes, ma’am,” replied Joe, “you’re a fairy.” 

“You are right,” replied the lady, “I am 
Mother Carey, the Fairy of the Seas.” 

“ Mother Carey! ” exclaimed Pearl. “ Then 
these others must be your Chickens.” 

The little girl was almost ashamed of her 
boldness in speaking, but the fairy only smiled, 
saying, 

“Yes, I am Mother Carey, and these are 
Mother Carey’s Chickens. And we have come 
to see you on a matter of great importance! ” 




cient Mariner sees me all may be lost. So let 
us keep in the shadow of this big corn shock, 
and I’ll tell you why I have come up, all the 

















THE CORN DODGER. 


59 


way from my coral caves under the ocean, to 
see you.” 

Joe and Pearl, at a sign from the fairy, 
seated themselves in the midst of a group 
formed by her Chickens, who, as they after¬ 
ward learned, were named Sea Mew, Wave 
Crest, Scallop, White Cap, Foam, Billow, Nau¬ 
tilus and Anemone. Their gowns were made 
of filmy lace—pale green like the sea where 
the sun shines into its depths, or dark blue 
where the shadows fall—and trimmed with sea 
weeds of the most beautiful colors. Their wings 
flashed and glistened in the pale light, like 
leaves wet with dew. Mother Carey herself was 
dressed as the others, only her garments were 
even more beautiful. As she stood before 
them, keeping a sharp lookout on the other 
side of the field to note the approach of the 
Ancient Mariner or anyone else, Pearl and Joe 
thought they had never seen any lady nearly 
so lovely. 

“As I have told you,” said Mother Carey, 
“ I am the fairy of the seas. Beneath the 
ocean, in my region of the Coral Caves, I am 
all powerful, owning no allegiance to anyone 


6 o 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


but King Neptune. On the earth I possess 
no power over mortals. Near my palace is the 
home of a quaint old character named Davy 
Jones, who keeps a sailors’ boarding house. 

“ Now, Davy Jones and I are friends, as a 
rule, but it is he and his servant, the Ancient 
Mariner, against whom I wish to warn you. 
You know how eager Davy is to find a pump¬ 
kin that he can make grow under the ocean, 
so as to provide his piratical boarders with 
pumpkin pies, and you have heard the Ancient 
Mariner tell how he was sent on earth to pro¬ 
cure the secret. 

“ Davy and the Pirates are impatiently await¬ 
ing his return, and if he goes back empty- 
handed they may seek to be revenged on you. 
So, my little boy, if you have this wonderful 
secret, I advise you to tell it to the Ancient 
Mariner.” 

“Oh, do, Joe. Won’t you, please?” inter¬ 
rupted Pearl, with tears in her eyes. “ Do, for 
just think how I should feel if those terrible 
Pirates did anything to you. Why, they might 
make you walk the board.” 

Pearl meant to say, “Walk the plank,” which, 


THE CORN DODGER. 


61 


she had heard, was some terrible punishment 
that Pirates gave their victims. 

“ Well,” said Joe, “ I hate to part with my 
secret, for I’ve worked hard over it. But I 
don't want any trouble with Pirates, I’m very 
sure; so, if the Ancient Mariner asks me, I’ll 
tell him.” 

“ That’s a very wise boy,” said Mother Carey, 
and the Chickens all nodded, to show that they 
quite agreed with her. 

As for Pearl, she was quite beside herself 
with joy. 

“ And when you tell him,” she said, “ per¬ 
haps he won’t look at you any more, as he 
does now, with that glittering eye.” 

“ I think you are doing a very proper thing, 
Joe,” said Mother Carey, “ and now, as I can 
be of no further service to you on earth, I’ll 
say good-night. But, if by any chance you 
should ever come within my regions remember 
to call on me if you need my help.” 

“ Thank you, Ma’am,” said Pearl and Joe. 

“ Take this talisman,” said the Fairy, handing 
Joe a sea-shell. “You probably will never 
need to use it, in which case it will be a 


6 2 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


souvenir of my visit. But if you do need to, 
just place it to your lips and blow loudly 
three times. I will hear 
and answer. And now 
I’ll say good-night 
again.” 

If Mother Carey did 
not wish to be seen by 
the others, she was none 
too soon in making her 
disappearance, for at this 
moment the cornfield 
was filled with the shouts 
of the merry-makers, 
hunting for Pearl and 
Joe to join them in a 
new game which was to 
end the evening’s fun. 

As she heard these 
1 shouts, Mother Carey 
waved her wand, kissed 
her hand to Pearl and 
Joe and, with her 
Chickens, vanished as 
suddenly as she had ap- 














































THE CORN DODGER. 


6 3 


peared. The boy and girl rubbed their eyes in 
astonishment, and would scarcely have believed 
that they had really been talking to fairies but 
for the sea-shell which Joe still clutched in his 
hand. 

As the first of the merry-makers neared them 
he hid this in his pocket. 

The new game consisted of a funny march, 
which the Schoolmaster had invented for the 
occasion. He called it the “ Witches’ Parade.” 
The boys, with Jack-o’lanterns, and the girls 
with cornstalk fiddles, which squeaked shrilly, 
were to head a procession down the lane as 
far as the barn and back to the cornfield 
again. The Schoolmaster said that they would 
get back to the field at exactly midnight and, 
just as the clocks was tolling the hour, he was 
to stand over the old spring among the trees 
and look into its depths, while all were to 
shout loudly, 

“ Witches, fairies, sprites and elves, 

If you are there, come show yourselves! ” 

“ And if there are such things,” said the 
Schoolmaster, “ they will certainly appear at 
midnight of Hallowe’en, if at no other time.” 


6 4 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


While all the rest were busy preparing for 
the parade, the Ancient Mariner, the Pieman, 
the Canner and Hiram found a chance to slip 
away, and sought the middle of the cornfield, 
where the big corn shock stood. 

Hiram had failure to report as a result of 
his efforts to induce Joe to part with his 
secret, and as but a few minutes remained be¬ 
fore midnight the Ancient Mar¬ 
iner was eager to summon the 
Corn Dodger and ask for his 
aid. 

“ This is the biggest corn 
shock,” said the 
Pieman, as they 














THE CORN DODGER. 


65 


reached the middle of the cornfield. “ Now 
bring out your Corn Dodger.” 

“All in good time, Mr. Crust,” said the An¬ 
cient Mariner. 

“My name is not Crust, but Doe,” the Pie¬ 
man corrected him 

“ Never mind, Shipmate, as long as I gets 
somewhere near it. The thing is now to entice 
my friend out of the corn shock if he’s in there, 
and my glittering eye tells me is. Which one of 
you is best at making a noise like a cabbage?” 

All looked at Hiram. Just why, the boy 
did not know. But they seemed to think that 
he should volunteer. 

“ I—I can make a noise like a pig squeal¬ 
ing,” said Hiram, “but I never tried to imi¬ 
tate a cabbage. Perhaps if you told me how 
I might.” 

“ Maybe we can get along without it,” said 
the Ancient Mariner. “ Any way, we’ll have to 
try. Now,” speaking to the Canner, “if you’ll 
stand over here, behind this corn shock, we’ll 
see. You,” indicating Hiram, “ get behind that 
shock, and,” to the Pieman, “you take this one, 
please, Mr. Biscuits.” 


66 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


“ I wish,” said the Pieman, “ that you would 
try to remember my name. It is Doe, and not 
Biscuits.” 

“Well,” replied the Ancient Mariner, “Dough 
is Biscuits, and Biscuits is Dough. Now, if I 
called you Apple-sauce or Raspberry-jam, it 
would be something to complain about; but as 
long as I keep to things around the bake- 
shop I wish you wouldn’t be so particular. 
We are here for something more important.” 

Thus reproved, the Pieman took his place be¬ 
hind an adjoining corn shock, and the Ancient 
Mariner, after a pause, bowed to the big shock, 
and said, 

“Oh, Corn Dodger, the potato bugs are eat¬ 
ing the potatoes, the caterpillars are devouring 
the tomatoes, and I think Jack Frost is getting 
ready to nip the toes of the beets and carrots. 
Come forth and save them.” 

Suddenly there was a rustling in the big 
shock, which rocked back and forth, and finally 
burst apart, revealing to the astonished eyes 
of the three mortals the strangest creature 
they had ever seen.. 

His body was shaped like a huge ear of 


THE CORN DODGER. 


67 


corn, on top of which was set a funny little 
head, surmounted with corn-silk which took the 
place of hair. His clothes were formed of the 
husks of corn, and his legs and arms were clad 
in bright green. He sprang from the corn 
shock with a bound, crying, 

“Who calls the Corn Dodger from his lair?” 

The Ancient Mariner held out his hand in 
greeting. 

“ Hello, Dodger, old boy,” he said. “ Don’t 
you know me?” 



68 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


Dodger,” said the Ancient Mariner. “ First let 
me tell you what I want.” 

“ But how about those vegetables that need 
my help ? ” asked the Corn Dodger. “ What’s 
that about potato bugs ? ” 

“ Forgive me, Dodger. I only made that up 
to get you out. I’m here to ask your aid in a 
very pressing matter. But before we go on, I 
want to introduce you to some friends of mine.” 

Hiram, the Pieman and the Canner stepped 
out from behind the corn shocks. As the 
Corn Dodger saw them he uttered a shriek and 
jumped back, crying, “ Mortals ! ” 

“ They won’t hurt you, Dodger,” said the 
Ancient Mariner. “ This here is my friend 
Hiram Hubbard. Shake hands with him.” 

The Corn Dodger took Hiram’s hand and 
shook it, and then turned to the Pieman. 

“ And this gentleman,” said the Ancient 
Mariner, “is a valuable member of the village, 
Mr. John Cruller.” 

“ Doe, Doe, Doe,” said the Pieman. “ Not 
Cruller.” 

“Very glad to meet you,” said the Corn 
Dodger, and then Mr. Cannem approached. 


THE CORN DODGER. 


69 


“ Mr. Cannem,” explained the Ancient Mariner, 
“ cans things.” 

The Corn Dodger shook with fear. 

“Cans things?” he repeated, weakly; “in¬ 
cluding corn ? ” 

“ Including corn,” said the Canner, looking 
meaningly at the Dodger. For such a large, 
luscious ear of corn as the Dodger’s body he 
had never seen, and he was already figuring 
out how many cans at twenty-five cents apiece 
it would make. 

But the Ancient Mariner said, 

“ Don’t be alarmed. He don’t mean any 
harm to you. We need your help, Dodger, 
and you needn’t be afraid of getting canned.” 

“Just the same, I am,” said the Dodger,“and 
always shall be. A fortune-teller told me 
once that it would be my fate, and I always 
carry a can-opener in case I should be canned, 
so as to cut my way out. Another thing is my 
fear of being popped, and often I nearly freeze 
on cold nights rather than go near a fire.” 

“We’re sorry,” said the Ancient Mariner, “but 
this is no time for tears. To business, Dodger. 
Do you know a boy named Joe Miller?” 


7 o 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


“ I should say so,” replied the Dodger. 
“ He’s destroyed all the pumpkins on the farm 
for Jack-lanterns. What do you want of 
him ?” 

Thereupon the Ancient Mariner recited the 
whole story, ending by asking the Corn Dodg¬ 
er’s aid in securing Joe’s wonderful secret. 

“ I’m sorry, Ancient,” said the Dodger, “ but 
I’m afraid I can’t help you. You see, I ought 
to take revenge on Joe Miller for destroying 
so many pumpkins, but, on the other hand, he’s 
done a lot for me by discovering this secret 
of making pumpkins grow. We never had 
such big ones till he began to putter around 
here, or so many. I couldn’t afford to do any¬ 
thing to him.” 

“ Then won’t you give us that one big 
pumpkin that’s left? You know where it is.” 

“ I can’t do that either,” said the Dodger, 
shaking his head. “It belongs to Joe, and, 
besides, if anyone gets it I want it for a 
sample when I make my report at head¬ 
quarters this winter.” 

“If I could only get Joe under the water 
for a few minutes,” said the Ancient Mariner, 


THE CORN DODGER. 71 

“I’ll wager I could make him give up his secret.” 

“ But you can’t,” said the Dodger. “ That 
is, in his present form. Now, if you could 
only change him into something else, eh ? ” 

The Ancient Mariner’s face brightened. 

“Splendid,” he exclaimed. “Will you do 
that for me ? ” 

“ I can’t, exactly,” said the Corn Dodger. 
“You ought to know enough about such 
things, being around with fairies as much as 
you have. But I’ll tell you what. I can put 
a spell on him, so that if he should wish to 
be anything else, just at midnight, he would 
change right into that very thing.” 

“ Well, that’s better than nothing,” said the 
Ancient Mariner, but the Pieman seemed to 
doubt it. 

“Joe Miller’s too well satisfied with being Joe 
Miller,” he said, “ to wish to be anything else.” 

“ Unless we could put it into his head,” 
added the Canner, lighting a cigar and throw¬ 
ing the burning match on the ground. The 
flame caught the dried grass, and soon a merry 
little fire was blazing just behind the Corn 
Dodger, who, however, did not see it. 


72 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


“We’ll try it, anyway,” said the Ancient 
Mariner, “ and were much obliged to you, 
Dodger. Any message to send to Davy 
Jones ? ” 

“Yes,” said the Dodger, “you might-” 

Pop! Pop! Pop! The flames from the grass 
fire had caught him, and here and there on 
his body little white spots appeared, like 
flakes of snow. He was popping! 

The Ancient Mariner rushed forward, hat in 
hand, to rescue his friend, but the Corn Dodger 
did not wait for mortal assistance, 
but leaped head-foremost into the 
corn-shock, which 
closed about him, and 
he was gone. 
The Canner 
picked up 
the pieces 













THE CORN DODGER. 


73 


of popped corn which had fallen to the ground, 
and ate them. 

“ Not bad, not bad,” he said, smacking his lips. 
“ I could get forty cents a can for such corn as 
that. I’ll keep an eye on the Corn Dodger.” 

But how were the conspirators to make Joe 
Miller wish that he might be changed into 
something or somebody else? It was now but 
five minutes to midnight, and soon the chance 
would be gone. 















CHAPTER VII. 


PUMPKIN-HEAD ! ” 


CARCELY had the Corn 
Dodger disappeared when Joe 
Miller’s cheery voice was heard, and he and 
Pearl, followed by Farmer Pringle and several 
others, came running across the cornfield to 











PUMPKIN-HEAD! 


75 


where the Ancient Mariner and his friends 
stood. 

“ Hello, Joe,” said the Ancient Mariner, try¬ 
ing to appear as jolly as possible, “we thought 
you had begun your witches’ parade.” 

“So we did, sir,” replied Joe, “but it wasn’t 
much fun for me without any Jack-o’lantern. 
I gave them all away to the other boys, you 
know, intending to make mine out of the big 
pumpkin that I lost.” 

“ So we’ve come back to have one more 
look for it,” said Farmer Pringle. “ You haven’t 
seen it, have you ? ” 

“ No,” said the Ancient Mariner, and Hiram, 
the Pieman and the Canner all said no. 

Suddenly Pearl gave a shout, and cried, 
pointing at the big corn-shock, 

“ Why, see, there’s the giant pumpkin, now.” 

All eyes were turned in that direction, 
and, sure enough, peeping from beneath the 
shock was the great golden pumpkin that 
had rolled away from Joe and defied every 
one’s efforts to find it. The boy leaped for¬ 
ward, brushed the corn husks back and, with 
the help of some of the other lads, rolled 


76 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


the beautiful pumpkin into the midst of the 
group. 

“Hurrah!” cried Joe, taking out his knife and 
opening the sharpest blade, “ now I shall have 
a Jack-o’lantern that will be a Jack-o’lantern.” 

While Joe’s knife dug merrily at the thick 
shell of the big pumpkin, everyone chattered 
of how strange it was that the vegetable had 
been under the corn-shock all this time with¬ 
out having been found. 

“ I’m sure Joe looked everywhere,” said Pearl, 
“ but I found it without any bother at all.” 

The Ancient Mariner said nothing, but he felt 
that the Corn Dodger must at that moment be 
hopping with anger at having carelessly exposed 
the pumpkin from beneath its hiding place. 
Sure enough, as he glanced around toward the 
corn-shock, there was the Dodger himself, hid¬ 
ing behind it, and leaping up and down, mad 
clear through. As he caught the Ancient Mar¬ 
iner’s eye, he beckoned to him, and the old 
man approached the corn-shock. 

“ Make the boy wish for a change,” he whis¬ 
pered. “Make him do it. I’ve got the spell 
on him.” 


PUMPKIN-HEAD ! 


77 


“ I’ll try,” said the Ancient Mariner, and 
returned to where Joe was sitting on the ground, 
carving at the big pumpkin. 

“ My,” said the Ancient Mariner, “ that pump¬ 
kin cuts hard.” 

“Yes, sir,” replied, Joe, grunting, “it does. 
It’s a big one, sure enough.” 

“ If you was a little ant, now,” said the 
Ancient Mariner, “or a beetle, you might 






78 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


and the Canner, overhearing the Ancient 
Mariner’s attempt to make Joe wish for a 
change, remembered their duty, and came for¬ 
ward. 

“ I know what he wishes he was,” said the 
Pieman. “ He wishes he was a great big sharp 
knife. Then he could cut the pumpkin like 
anything.” 

“ No, I don’t wish I was a knife at all,” 
said Joe, displeased at being bothered by such 
silly remarks. 

So the Canner took a hand. 

“ Of course the boy doesn’t wish anything 
like that,” he said. “ I know just what he does 
wish, though. He wishes that he was a cute 
little mouse, so that he could chew a hole 
right through the pumpkin. Don’t you, Joe?” 

Before Joe could answer, Hiram stepped 
forward, and said: 

“ I know. He wishes that he was an ele¬ 
phant, so he could step on the pumpkin and 
smash it to bits.” 

The Ancient Mariner looked at Hiram with 
a glance that frightened the poor boy so that 
he slunk back in the crowd. Then the old 


PUMPKIN-HEAD ! 


79 


man looked at Joe, as though afraid that he 
might take Hiram’s hint and wish to be an 
elephant. But Joe was cutting away at the 
pumpkin shell and paying no attention to any¬ 
thing else, and the Ancient Mariner sighed 
with relief. 

“Just imagine,” he said to the Pieman, “just 
imagine, Mr. Cookey, if he had wished to be 
turned into an elephant. Wouldn’t that be a 
nice thing for me to have to take back to 
Davy Jones?” 

And the Pieman was so glad to think that 
Joe had not taken Hiram’s hint that he forgot 
to correct the Ancient Mariner about his name. 

By this time Joe had so far completed his 
great Jack-o’lantern that the face now needed 
only one eye. But the minutes were flying; 
the Schoolmaster and Farmer Pringle were 
eager to have the parade over, and the Corn 
Dodger was dancing up and down behind his 
house, telling the Ancient Mariner, in loud 
whispers, to “ Make the boy wish.” It was but 
one minute of midnight! 

“ Hurry, Joe, please hurry,” said Pearl, “ or 
they will go without you.” 



“Yes, Pearl,” re¬ 
plied Joe, “ I am, 
just as fast as 
ever I can. 

I’ve only 
got an eye 
to make, 
and here 
goes for it.” 

Clutching his knife 
with renewed strength, Joe plunged 
it into the side of the big pumpkin. There 
was a dull sound as of something crack¬ 
ing, and the pumpkin was smashed into a 
dozen pieces, its golden depths, with the clusters 
of seeds, shining in the moonlight like real gold. 

There was a cry of dismay from Joe, an 
echo of disappointment from everyone else, and 
the voice of the Corn Dodger was raised above 
all other sounds, sobbing, 

“ Pumpkin-head ! Pumpkin-head! ” 

Not knowing where the voice came from, 
but thinking that the word was meant for 
him Joe Miller looked at the shattered pump¬ 
kin, then around at the open-mouthed crowd, 
and cried, 


ij <WrSWh 






“ PUMPKIN-HEAD ! ” 81 

“Pumpkin-head! That’s just what I wish I 
was ! ” 

The earth shook, and out of it rose a 
mammoth pumpkin vine, its enormous ten¬ 
drils grasping at the air. They caught Joe, 
and before anyone could rush to his aid, had 
dragged him down through the ground, kicking 
and screaming. In another moment the earth 
trembled again, the vines opened their great 
leaves, and there, sprawled on his back, was 
a curious person. He caught Pearl by the 
hand before she could draw away and helped 
himself to his feet, crying, 

“ Why, what’s the matter ? Where am I ? ” 

All stood gazing at the creature in silent 
astonishment. 

It was Joe’s voice that they heard, but it 
was not Joe that they saw. Instead, the 
creature was almost too queer to describe. 
His head was a Jack-o’lantern, like one that 
Joe might have made; his body was a larger 
pumpkin, as big as the one that Joe had just 
smashed, and his arms and legs were made 
of pumpkin vines and leaves. On his face 
was a broad grin, and the light shone brightly 
through the holes cut for eyes, nose, and mouth. 


As he turned toward 
Pearl, the little girl drew 
away in alarm. 

“ Don’t touch me,” she 
cried. 

“Why not?” de¬ 
manded the creature, and this time 
the voice was surely Joe Miller’s. 

“ Don’t you like me any more just be¬ 
cause I broke the big pumpkin?” 

At this Farmer Pringle stepped 
forward. 

“ Do you mean to tell me,” he de¬ 
manded, “ that you call yourself 
Joe Miller?” 

The creature turned its beam¬ 
ing face toward Pearl’s father, and asked, in 
surprise, 

“ Why, yes, Uncle, why not ? ” 

Farmer Pringle took one of 
broken mirror that the girls had 
trying a charm and gave it to 
creature which held it before its 
itself in the glass, and cried, 

“ Goodness gracious! I wished myself 
pumpkin-head, and now I am one.” 



the bits of 
brought for 
the strange 
face. It saw 


d/r'-.i 





“ Don't touch meshe cried , 














PUMPKIN-HEAD ! 


83 


It turned, and would have run away, had not 
the Pieman and the Ancient Mariner caught it 
by the arms. 

“ Wait,” cried the Pieman, “ If you are really 
Joe Miller, you can tell us something.” 

“Yes,” shouted the Ancient Mariner. “How 
do you make pumpkins grow where others have 
failed ? ” 

“ That’s easy,” said the creature. “ First, you 
take a pumpkin, and then—and then—” 

“Yes, yes?” whispered the Ancient Mariner, 

“ heave ahead, my hearty. And then-” 

But the creature had stopped, and was 
plainly trying to recall something it had for¬ 
gotten. It raised one of its leafy hands to 
its forehead, looked about helplessly, and cried, 
“ I don’t know.” 

“ What ? ” shouted the Corn Dodger, rushing 
out from behind the big shock, and causing 
commotion by his appearance, “ do you mean 
that you have forgotten ? ” 

“ Yes,” said the creature, “ I’ve forgotten. I 
wished I could be a pumpkin-head, and that’s 
just what I am. I’ve forgotten all about it.” 

“ I’ll never dare go back to Davy Jones 
and the Pirates,” moaned the Ancient Mariner. 


8 4 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


“ And what will I do for pumpkins ? ” cried 
the Pieman. 

They fell into each other’s arms and wept, 
while the Corn Dodger danced up and down 
in rage, so that his husks rustled and the ker¬ 
nels of corn that made up his body rattled. 

As for Pearl, and her father and mother and 
all the others—well, suppose you had been 
there, don’t you think you would have 
been too astonished to say or do anything? 











CHAPTER VIII. 


WHEN WISHES COME TRUE. 

EARL was the first to come to her 
rises. Turning to the Ancient Mari¬ 
ner, she cried, 

“You wicked old man! You did this!” 

“ Why, Miss,” said that old villain, trying to 
appear very innocent, “ I never touched the 










86 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


boy. I’ll leave it to my friend, Mr. Pastry.” 

“Doe, not Pastry,” said the Pieman. “Other¬ 
wise what you say is right. You never 
touched Joe.” 

“Just the same,” persisted the little girl, “I 
saw you with your heads together, and that 
Canner man, too, and I told Joe to watch 
out for you. Oh, papa, aren’t you going to 
make them turn Joe back into himself again?” 

But Farmer Pringle was too busy trying 
to catch the Corn Dodger to hear Pearl. The 
Sprite had attempted to make his escape as 
soon as he saw so many people looking at 
him, and would have succeeded had not the 
Canner and Pearl’s father caught him by the 
legs just as he dove into the bottom of the 
big corn-shock. The Corn Dodger struggled, 
for although he was a fairy his power would 
be gone once he was captured. Besides, he 
feared the Canner more than anything in the 
world. 

But Farmer Pringle and the Canner pulled 
hard and soon had the Dodger on the 
ground, where the Schoolmaster and Johnny 
*Farnum, the fat boy, sat on him. 


WHEN WISHES COME TRUE. 


87 


“Ancient, Ancient!” cried the Corn Dodger, 
“ help me. I helped you. Don’t let them can 
me.” 

But the Ancient Mariner turned his back 
on the Corn Dodger, who soon saw that he 
was helpless and stopped struggling. 

“So you are the Corn Dodger of whom I 
have heard so much?” asked Farmer Prin¬ 
gle. “And it’s you who have played this 
trick on my little nephew.” 

“ The Ancient Mariner asked me to,” pleaded 
the Sprite. 

“ That’s no excuse,” said Farmer Pringle. 
“ You must undo your evil work. Will you, 
if I let you go ? ” 

“ I can’t,” said the Dodger. “ I am power¬ 
less to work charms on mortals except for 
the five minutes just before midnight. It’s 
too late.” 

“ Leave him to me,” suggested the Canner. 
“ I think I can handle him.” 

Now, the Canner did not mean what they 
thought he did. He did not care what became 
of Joe, but he wanted the Corn Dodger all 
for himself. The Sprite knew this, and cried, 


“ Don’t let him can me, don’t. I’ll tell all.” 

On Farmer Pringle promising to see that 
no harm came to him, the Corn Dodger told 
him all about how the Ancient Mariner, the 
Pieman, the Canner, and Hiram Hubbard had 
come to him with their plot against Joe Miller, 
and how he had cast a spell over the boy 
that had changed him into a pumpkin-head. 

Luckily for the Ancient Mariner and his 
wicked friends, every one was too eager to 
rescue Joe from the fix in which he found 
himself to pay any attention to them just 
then. Otherwise, I don’t know what would 
have happened to them. 

As for poor Joe himself, he sat on the 
ground, with Mrs. Pringle’s arm around his 
fat, vegetable neck, and Pearl holding his 
leaf-like hands, and all three crying. That is, 
Pearl and her mother cried, and Joe sounded 
as though he were sobbing, but no tears came. 








WHEN WISHES COME TRUE. 


89 


For a pumpkin, no matter how lifelike it 
might look, was never known to shed real 
tears. 

You need hardly be told that Joe was 
frightened at the strange change that had 
come over him, but he listened to the Corn 
Dodger’s explanation with interest, and at the 
end of it jumped up. 

“ So the Corn Dodger cast a spell over 
me, did he?” cried Joe. “And that was what 
made me turn into what I am. But it didn’t 
happen till I wished.” 

Pearl saw Joe’s meaning and cried, 

“ Of course, and it’s just as simple. Now, 
Joe, you just make another wish and you’ll 
be all right.” 

“ What shall I wish I was ? ” 

“Why, Joe Miller of course. How stupid!” 

“ Wouldn’t you rather have me a beautiful 
prince ?” 

“ No, I just want Joe Miller back again.” 

So Joe wished as hard as he could. He 
tried it several times, in many different ways, 
but there was no change. He still remained a 
pumpkin-head. 


9° 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


“ I guess it’s no use,” he said, smiling 
in spite of his disappointment. “ I’ll just have 
to be a pumpkin-head all the rest of my 
life.” 

It was now away past midnight. Most of 
the children, who had been kept awake by the 
excitement, were unable to hold their eyes 
open another moment, and, one by one, they 
were falling asleep in their mothers’ arms. 
Even Pearl found it difficult to stay awake. 
Farmer Pringle believed what the Corn Dodger 
had said about his not being able to restore 
Joe to his own form until the next night, 
and made up his mind that there was noth¬ 
ing to do but wait till then. Anyway, it was 
no use for them to stay in the cornfield any 
longer, so he gave the word and all started 
for home. 

Farmer Pringle, leading Joe, to whose hand 
little Pearl clung sleepily, went first, and then 
came the Schoolmaster and some of the larger 
boys, with the Corn Dodger as their prisoner. 
Right behind him walked the Canner, keeping 
close watch on the Dodger, and muttering 
over and over, 



“ Fifty cans of 
corn at a dollar 
a can. And such 
pop-corn! ” 

The grown 
people, with their 
sleepy children, 
followed. As for 
Hiram, the An¬ 
cient Mariner 
and the Pieman, 
they had slunk 
away some time 
\ before—the Ancient Mariner to spend the 
Ni.j~ rest of the night with the Pieman in his 
r r bake-shop, and Hiram to his room in the 
Pringle barn. 

Thus the little procession that had started 
out so joyously only a short while since, re¬ 
turned to the farmhouse. The villagers scat¬ 
tered to their homes, Mrs. Pringle put Pearl 
to bed, and Joe, with Farmer Pringle and the 
Schoolmaster, went into the dining-room to 
talk it all over. 

Some boys would have been so frightened 


92 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


and unhappy that they would have cried, but 
by this time Joe Miller was laughing at the 
fun of the thing, especially when he saw his 
round, shining figure in the big mirror. 

“Ho, ho, ho!” he shouted. “I’m a sight. 
If there was only a circus here I could go 
in the side show as the real Pumpkin-headed 
boy! Step up, ladies and gentlemen, and 
have a look. Only ten cents.” 












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_ 


THE NEXT DAY. 


EFORE sitting down with Joe 
and the Schoolmaster, Farmer Pringle locked 
the Corn Dodger in the hall closet and put 
the key on the hook over the door. Much to 
his surprise, the Dodger did not complain 






























94 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


about being locked in for the night. But 
the captured Sprite of the cornfield probably 
thought that he was better off in the closet 
than outdoors where the Canner could get at 
him. He clung to the little can-opener that 
he always carried, and jumped at every sound, 
fearing that it was his enemy come to cut 
him up and can him. 

Farmer Pringle, however, did not wish the 
wicked rascal to spend the night too com¬ 
fortably after all the trouble he had caused, so 
he said, after he had locked the door, loudly 
enough for the Dodger to hear him, 

“ I think he’ll be safe in there, if the mice 
don’t find he’s about.” 

Hearing this, the Dodger pounded on the 
door and begged to be released, but Farmer 
Pringle paid no attention to him. 

Though the Schoolmaster was a very wise 
man, he could not hit on any way to get Joe 
out of his trouble. Neither could Farmer 
Pringle. As for Joe himself, all he could 
think of was to try to wish himself back 
where he had been. But the plan did not 
work, and though they sat up all night long 


THE NEXT DAY. 


95 


Joe was as much of a pumpkin in the morn¬ 
ing as ever. 

Pearl and her mother came down to break¬ 
fast, and everyone managed to eat heartily ex¬ 
cept Joe, who only drank water. 

After breakfast, very much to everyone’s 
surprise (though, when they came to think of 
it, quite natural for a pumpkin), Joe could 
not control his desire to go out on the lawn 
and lie down in the bright sunshine. 

“It feels so good,’’ he said, “just as though 
I was growing.” 

He looked so comfortable that little Pearl, 
sorry as she felt for her cousin, could not 
help smiling, till a thought struck her. 

Why did pumpkins like the sunlight ? Be¬ 
cause it ripened them. 

Mercy! What if Joe should get ripe and 
burst! So she hurried to get an umbrella to 
put over him, to keep at least some of the sun 
off. And in this way the boy spent the day, 
waiting for night to come, so that the Corn 
Dodger could again cast a spell over him 
and let him wish himself back to his own 
shape. 


9 6 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


But what of the Pieman and the Ancient 
Mariner ? Very busy were they in the back 
room of the bake-shop, where they had spent 
the night. 

“ I tell you,” said the Mariner, after a long, 
long talk, “ I’m going to have that pumpkin 
boy under the sea and down in Davy Jones’ 
locker, whether the Corn Dodger is scared 
into changing him back as he was or not. 
Davy and those Pirates are people you don’t 
know, Mr. Jelly-rolls ! ” 

“ Doe,” said the Pieman—“ D-O-E.” 

“ If you ever met ’em,” the Mariner went on, 


v 





























THE NEXT DAY. 


97 


“you’d know they wasn’t to be trifled with. 
I’m surprised I haven’t heard from them al¬ 
ready, but I will by to-night, as sure as the 
bottom of the sea is sandy. And when I do 
hear from them it doesn’t take my glittering 
eye long to tell me that there’ll be a storm. 
That’s what, Mr. Gingerbread ! ” 

“ Doe,” said the Pieman, weakly. “ Please 
get my name right. But if you expect trouble 
from this Mr. Jones—and I notice you don’t 
have any bother remembering his name— 
what do you think of me ? The villagers 
won’t have anything to do with me again, 
though goodness knows whatever I’ve done 
was only because I was so anxious to get 
pumpkins to make pies for them. What’s to 
become of me?” 

“ Come down to Davy’s locker with me,” 
said the Ancient Mariner, “ I have a plan, 
which is this. If we can keep the Dodger 
from turning Joe Miller back into a boy 
again, we can capture Joe, somehow, and 
take him down to Davy. Once there, he’ll 
remember his secret for making pumpkins 
grow, I guess, and if he doesn’t we’ve got 


I 


Fn 


him anyway, and 
he’ll make a few 
mighty fine pies, 
himself. You’ll 
come in quite 
handy, because I 
don’t believe Davy 
could cook a 
pumpkin pie to suit those Pirates. What do 
you say ? ” 

“ But I’m no fish—I couldn’t live under 
the water,” said the Pieman. 

“ Leave that to me.” 

At this moment there came a knock on the 
window of the bake-shop, and Hiram Hub¬ 
bard’s face was pressed against the pane. 

The Pieman opened the window, and Hiram 
jumped into the room. He was very much 
excited. 

“ He—he’s out there, hiding behind a bar¬ 
rel,” said Hiram. 

“ Who ? ” asked the Pieman. 

“ The Corn Dodger,” said Hiram. “ He 
escaped from the closet they locked him in.” 

Without waiting to hear any more, the An¬ 
cient Mariner ran to the window and called, 























THE NEXT DAY. 


99 


“Ahoy, there, Dodger!” At this, the Corn 
Dodger himself appeared, peeping over an 
apple barrel that stood outside. When he saw 
the Ancient Mariner he hurried to the win¬ 
dow and was helped over the sill, into the 
room, where he told them his adventures since 
they had seen him the night before. 

On finding himself locked up in the closet he 
had looked about for means of escape, because 
Farmer Pringle’s remark about mice had 
frightened him terribly. With his can-opener 
he had managed to pick the lock and then he 
had stolen out at the front door, which was 
open, and gone to the barn. There he had 
found Hiram, who had taken him to the Pie¬ 
man and the Ancient Mariner. 

“You won’t let them get me?” he pleaded, 
when he had finished his story. The Pie¬ 
man said that they would protect the Dodger, 
but the crafty old Ancient Mariner fixed his 
glittering eye on the frightened Sprite, and 
said, 

“I don’t know about that. If I was to send 
word to the Canner that you were here he’d 
be quite pleased, eh ? ” 


L.ofC. 


IOO 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


The Corn Dodger fell to his knees and 
begged the Mariner not to be so cruel. 

“ Well,” said the old man, “ it all depends on 
how you behave. Are you going to change 
that Joe Miller into a boy to-night ? ” 

“ If I don’t they’ll give me to the Canner,” 
cried the Dodger. 

“ And if you do I'll give you to the Can¬ 
ner,” said the Ancient Mariner. “ But you 
won’t. You’ll do as I say.” 

Then he explained to the Dodger how he 
and the Pieman had decided to take Joe, in 
his pumpkin form, to Davy Jones’ locker. 

“When they go to the cornfield to-night for 
the spell,” he added, “you meet them and pre¬ 
tend to be all ready to do what they want. 
Then you step aside and leave the rest to 
me.” 

“ But in the meantime, what’s to become of 
me?” cried the Dodger. 

“ And of me ? ” cried Hiram. “ They’ll 
just about kill me if they find I brought 
the Dodger here instead of telling him he es¬ 
caped.” 

“ Both of you hide here till night,” said the 


THE NEXT DAY. 


IOI 


Ancient Mariner, “ while I cruise around and 
see how the land lies/’ 

With which he picked up his crossbow and 
his albatross, and went out. The Pieman, the 
Corn Dodger and Hiram watched him stump¬ 
ing up the hill toward the Pringle farm, sing¬ 
ing a sea song, and now and then looking 
back with his glittering eye, to see that they 
were not following him. 










him fifty times during the day, 


“You don’t feel any riper, do you, Joey? 
And each time the boy smiled good- 
naturedly, and told his little cousin not to 


















THE MAGIC SPRING. 


103 


worry. But she could not help being alarmed 
when he left the lawn during the afternoon 
and went out to the pumpkin patch. Here 
he lay on the ground among the vines that 
had caused him so much trouble the night 
before, and buried his hands in the earth, so 
that he looked for all the world just like a 
great pumpkin, vine and all. 

“ But,” said Joe, merrily, “ if I am a pump¬ 
kin, I must act like a pumpkin, mustn’t I ? 
If I were a balloon, now, you wouldn’t be 
surprised if I wanted to float away in the air, 
would you ? ” 

“ No,” said Pearl, “ but I don’t like to see 
you lying there as though you were growing 
and getting ready to be picked, you know. It 
makes me awfully creepy. You—don’t feel as 
though you were getting dry or going to seed 
do you ? ” 

“No, no,” laughed Joe. “You mustn’t fret 
so, Pearl. Remember, the Dodger will fix me 
all right again to-night, and if he doesn’t, see, 
I still have the sea-shell that Mother Carey 
gave me. Perhaps, if I blow on that she 
might help me.” 


104 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


He tried to blow on the sea-shell, which, in 
some mysterious manner, he still retained, 
strung on a silken cord about his neck, but his 
mouth, you must remember, was only a slit in 
an empty pumpkin shell, and he could not 
frame his lips around the mouth-piece of the 
talisman. 

“ Mother Carey couldn’t do me any good, any¬ 
way,” he said, “because I’m not under the sea, 
so what if I can’t blow on the shell ? If you 
don’t feel too tired, though, I’d like another 
drink of water, for I never was so thirsty.” 

Pearl ran to the house to get Joe the water, 
but returned out of breath with the news of 
the Corn Dodger’s escape. 

For the first time since his change Joe was 
alarmed. He hurried to the farmhouse 
where he found Farmer Pringle and the 
Schoolmaster examining the door of the closet 
and wondering how the Dodger had opened it. 
The broken lock showed them. The farm 
hands and many of the villagers were sent 
helter-skelter for the Corn Dodger, for Farmer 
Pringle realized that without him Joe would 
always have to be a pumpkin. 


THE MAGIC SPRING. 


105 


Pearl was too unhappy for words as the 
searchers returned with no news of the Dodger. 
The Canner had been watching the cornfield 
all night and all day, thinking that the Sprite 
might escape and try to get back to his corn- 
shock, so they knew that the Dodger was 
not there. Hiram was not about, but nobody 
imagined that he could help much, anyway. 
All was excitement and all pitied poor Joe. 

Matters were in this state when the An¬ 
cient Mariner, singing a sea song and carry¬ 
ing his crossbow and the Albatross, hove in 
sight. On being told of the Corn Dodger’s 
escape, he laughed. 




















io6 THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 

“ Ho, ho! ” he chuckled, “ Don’t let that 
alarm you, my hearties. My glittering eye sim¬ 
ply winks at that.” 

“ But,” said Farmer Pringle, coolly, for he did 
not like the Ancient Mariner very much, feel¬ 
ing that he was to blame for everything, “ if we 
don’t find the Corn Dodger what’s to be done ? ” 

“Done?” repeated the Ancient Mariner, 
“Why, wait. The Dodger wouldn’t be likely 
to go to the cornfield now, in broad daylight, 
would he ? But he will to-night. And why, 
asks you? Because he has to. If he stayed 
away one night what do you think would 
happen ? Why, he’d lose his power forever, 
that’s what. So I says, just wait. 

“But there’s one thing you may have noticed. 
That Dodger isn’t so great, after all, is he ? 
To be sure, he cast the spell over Joe that made 
him change to a pumpkin-head, but he couldn’t 
change him back right away, could he?” 

“ No,” said Farmer Pringle, “ that’s so.” 

“ I don’t call that being much of a fairy,” 
sniffed the Ancient Mariner. “Now, what I 
want to say is this. I’m a little sorry for what 
I did last night, and I want to help straighten 


THE MAGIC SPRING. 


107 


things out. So if you'll leave it to me to-night 
maybe I’ll be able to do as much as the Dodger 
can. What say you ? ” 

The old man seemed so sincere in what he 
said that Farmer Pringle believed him. 

“You want your little cousin back again, 
don’t you?” said the Mariner to Pearl. 

“Yes, thank you, sir,” said Pearl. So her 
father told the Ancient Mariner that they would 
leave matters to him. 

“Then meet me in the cornfield, right where 
we were last night,” said the Mariner, “a few 
minutes before midnight. You, Farmer Pringle, 
and Mrs. Pringle, and the Schoolmaster, and 
Pearl, and, of course, Joe, and anyone else you 
like. The Dodger will be there.” 

With his crossbow under one arm and the 
Albatross dangling from the other, the Ancient 
Mariner left the Pringles and went off toward 
the cornfield, still singing his sea song. 

In the cornfield, guarding the big corn-shock 
as a cat guards a mouse hole, he found the 
Canner. What the Ancient Mariner said to 
him I don’t know, but the Canner rose from 
the ground and went toward the village. 


When he was gone, the An¬ 
cient Mariner looked around to 
make sure that he was alone, 
and then, hurrying to the little 
spring at the foot of the big 
trees at the corner of the field, 
fell on his knees before it, 
called, 

“ Ahoy ! Below there ! ” 

There was a commotion in the water, 
and a dolphin, wearing a messenger boy’s 
cap, stuck its glistening nose above the sur¬ 
face. In its mouth it held a note-book and 
pencil, which the Ancient Mariner took. With 







THE MAGIC SPRING. 


the pencil the old man hastily scribbled a 
message in the book and handed it back to 
the dolphin, which disappeared, touching its 
hat with the tip of its flipper. 

“To Davy Jones, as quick as you can 
swim,” said the Ancient Mariner. 

The note that he had sent in this myste¬ 
rious manner was very short. It said: 

“EXPECT ME WITH THE PUMPKIN-PIE BOY AT MID¬ 
NIGHT. TELL THE PIRATES. 

P. S. ALSO MAKE UP AN EXTRA BUNK FOR A GENTLE¬ 
MAN NAMED JOHN PIE. 

ANCIENT MARINER.” 

In a few minutes more, the old man was 
back in the bake-shop with the Corn Dod¬ 
ger, Hiram, and the Pieman. They asked 
him where he had been, but he only winked. 

No lanterns were needed to show Farmer 
Pringle and Joe’s friends the way to the corn¬ 
field, that night. The light from within Joe’s 
pumpkin head shone like the head-light of an 
automobile, and made the path as bright as 
day. 

The Ancient Mariner was awaiting them. 
With him were the Pieman and Hiram Hub- 


IIO 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 



bard, and concealed behind a corn-shock was 
the Corn Dodger. Behind another shock was 
the Canner. The Dodger did not know this, 
or he would not have been comfortable, al¬ 
though he still had his faithful can-opener. 

“Ahoy!” called the Ancient Mariner through 
the darkness, as Joe approached him, followed 
by Pearl, her father and mother, the School¬ 
master and some of the villagers. “ My glit¬ 
tering eye tells me that you are here.” 

Pearl thought that it would have been a 
pretty poor glittering eye that could not have 
told this much, for Joe’s Jack-o’lantern 
head lighted everything up. But she 
said nothing, for fear of offending the 
Ancient Mariner. 

“ Now,” said the old man, “ the 


THE MAGIC SPRING. 


hi 


time’s come to change this poor boy back 
to what he was, that is if he wants to 
change.” 

‘‘Indeed, I do!” exclaimed Joe. “I’m tired of 
being a pumpkin.” 

“Then,” said the Ancient Mariner, “listen to 
what I say. The Dodger, who is with us, as I 
said he would be, is a little shaky on his spells 
this evening, and I’m afraid he won’t be much 
help. But don’t be afraid. Little Miss Pearl 
is going to do the trick.” 

“Oh, Joe, hear that!” exclaimed Pearl, de¬ 
lightedly. “ The Ancient Mariner says that I’m 
to be the one to change you back to a boy. 
Please, Mr. Mariner, hurry, I’m so anxious to 
begin.” 

“Plenty of time,” said the old villain. “You 
may not know it, but this spring here is a 
magic spring, and it’s through this that every¬ 
thing’s going to happen. Dodger! ” 

The Corn Dodger, looking about to see that 
the Canner was not near, stepped out from 
behind the corn-shock. 

“Dodger,” said the Ancient Mariner, “You 
stand by the side of the spring, here. Pumpkin 


112 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


boy, you stand here, and little Miss Pearl, you 
kneel down and look into the spring.” 

The Dodger, Joe and Pearl took their places 
as directed, and the Ancient Mariner went on, 

“ Everyone else, stand a little back, so as not 
to keep the charm from working.” 

All did as they were told, but the Cannei 
crept to a corn-shock nearer to where the 
Dodger stood, and whispered to the Ancient 
Mariner, 

“ Now ? ” 











THE MAGIC SPRING. 


i'3 

him. Then he said, in a solemn voice, stand¬ 
ing directly behind Pearl, who was looking in¬ 
tently into the spring and wondering what 
there was in it so magical, 

“ Hokey, pokey, mokey mo! 

Iggery, piggery, down you go! ” 

As he said the last words, the Ancient 
Mariner gave a loud shout, which so frightened 
Pearl that she lost her balance and fell head 
first into the spring, the water of which closed 
over her. Joe, in alarm at what had happened 
to his little cousin, forgot all about himself, 
and, intent only on saving her, jumped in 
after Pearl; and the Ancient Mariner, clasping 
the Pieman by the hand, leaped after both, 
shouting, 

“All aboard for Davy Jones’ locker! ” 

As the water closed over the top of the 
Pieman’s hat, the ground about the spring 
closed in, and by the time Farmer Pringle 
and the rest had reached the spot there was 
no sign that there had ever had been any 
water there. As for the Corn Dodger, he 
tried to follow the Ancient Mariner, but was 


114 THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 

not quick enough, and the closing ground 
caught him about the knees, in which position 
the Canner easily captured him, and rushed 
off with the poor fellow under his arm, the 
Dodger kicking and screaming. 

Pearl’s father and mother, the Schoolmaster 
and the rest stood gazing at the ground stupidly, 
wondering if they were dreaming. 












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_ WAY 

of the sea, far deeper 
ing-line could ever reach, at the edge 
forest of seaweed and hard by the 
of Coral, stood (and for all I 


down at the bottom 
than the longest fish- 

of a 


Caves 
know stands 


JONES’ 


DAVY 


LOCKER. 




























n 6 THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 

yet), a funny little house. Once it had been 
a ship, but now there were no masts or sails, 
and the windows and doors cut in the sides 
showed that it was a dwelling. 

In front of the house was a little garden 
filled with the brightest flowers, and bordered 
with sea-shells. A strange light from some¬ 
where made everything as brilliant as when 
the sun shines in your own land, so that the 
thousands of fish, of all sizes, that swam in 
and out, overhead and round about, glistened 
and shimmered and were prettier to look at 
than any birds or butterflies that ever flew 
in your garden. You would have said, had 
you found yourself there, “ This must be 
Fairyland.” 

But it was not quite Fairyland, as the sign 
over the front door of the little house would 
have told you. This sign was made of a piece 
of old timber, and the letters were shells. They 
spelled: 

DAVY JONES’ LOCKER” 

Board & Lodging at 
Reasonable Rates 


The house must have 
been full, for the roof seemed 
to shake with the sound of 
voices within. They were gruff, 
loud, rumbling voices, that set 
the little fish scampering off among the 
Caves as they heard them. And all that 
be heard was one word, 

“ DINNER!” 



Coral 

could 


But this was shouted over and over again, 
with a rattling and banging that sounded like 
tin cups, plates, knives and forks being thumped 
and pounded. 

Suddenly, while the tumult was at its height, 
a little old man, with his hair braided behind 
his head in a pigtail, tumbled out through the 
door and stood trembling in the sandy path. 

“ Dear me, dear me 1 ” he muttered, as he 
wrung his hands, “ these Pirates are getting 
worse and worse. They had breakfast only two 
hours ago, and now they’re shouting for dinner!” 

The voices rose louder and louder, and the 
tins were banged more fiercely than ever. The 
little old man grew more and more frightened. 
He called in at the open door, 

“ Very well, gentlemen, you shall have dinner. 


iiS 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


Only do be calm.” Then he blew a bos’un’s 
whistle that he wore on a string about his neck, 
and an untidy looking mermaid appeared from 
behind the house, her sleeves rolled up and a 
frying-pan in her hand. 

“What is it, Misther Jones ?” she said. 

“ Bridget,” replied Davy Jones, for it was he, 
“ I’m afraid I shall have to ask you to hurry 
dinner a little. My boarders-” 

“Hurry dinner, is it?” cried Bridget, “and 
that I’ll not. It’s cook, cook, cook, for thim 
Pie-rats till I’m tired out. I’ll l’ave in the 
mornin’.” 

With this she switched her tail, knocking over 
several flower-pots that stood in the garden 
beside the house. 

“O, goodness, Bridget, do be more careful,” 
cried poor Davy. “ You’ve knocked over my 
pots.” 

“ Much harm that is,” sniffed the angry Bridget. 
“ What’s in thim ? Punkins, I suppose ! ” 

“ ’Sh, Bridget, they may hear you,” said 
Davy, casting a frightened glance toward the 
house, from which the shouts of “ Dinner ” still 
came. “Yes, these are my attempts to raise 

























\ 









DAVY JONES’ LOCKER. 


119 

pumpkins, for my boarders still cry for pump¬ 
kin pies, and as I don’t hear from the Ancient 
Mariner I don t know what is going to happen 
to me.” 

“Poor Misther Jones!” said Bridget, seeing 
how unhappy her master was. “ And can’t you 
get any pumpkins any other way except from 
the Ancient Mariner ? ” 

“ No,” said Davy. “ And I don’t know when 
he’s coming back. He should have been here 
last night. Oh, it’s dreadful. Hear them.” 

Indeed, Bridget did not have to listen very 
sharply to hear the Pirates. For now their 
voices were so loud that the sea trembled, and 
some oysters near by turned over in their beds, 
wondering at the clamor. 

Bridget shook her frying-pan at the house. 

“Ye villains!” she shouted. “I’ll cook your 
dinner, but not because I wouldn’t rather see 
you all starve. It’s for you, Misther Jones,” 
she added, “ I’ll hurry it along. What shall I 
make for dessert?” 

“ Never mind the dessert, Bridget. They eat 
no sweets but pumpkin pies. Oh, how I wish 
the Ancient Mariner would hurry back.” 





Bridget vanished at 
the kitchen door, and 
Davy picked up the 
pots that the good creature 
had tipped over. In one or 
two of them there were little 
sprouts; the rest contained nothing. Davy 
looked fondly at the sprouts. 

“ If you’d only grow,” he murmured. “ But 
I’m afraid I’ll never raise a good pumpkin under 
the sea. Oh, where’s the Ancient Mariner ? ” 
The next moment footsteps were heard, and 
from the house came pell-mell a dozen or more 
of the most savage looking persons you could 
imagine. Some of them wore great belts in 
which were stuck pistols and knives, others car¬ 
ried their weapons in their teeth; some had long, 
black beards, others red; most of them wore 
their hair in pigtails, and the costume of each 
was fantastic as anything could be. The leader 
was the most dreadful of al! in appearance, with 






DAVY JONES’ LOCKER. 


I 2 I 



a beard the color of a crow, a red cap on his 
head, and a big cutlass in his hand. Behind 
him stood a tall, one-legged man, on whose 
shoulder perched a great green parrot, that 
looked very wise, and kept saying, 

“ Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight!” whatever 
that might mean! 

The leader, seeing Davy, shouted, 

“ Where’s our dinner, and what are we going 
to have?” 

“Gently, gentlemen,” said Davy, “Bridget is 
getting it as fast as she can. You are going 
to have corned beef, and cabbage, 







122 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


manded the leader, whose name was Black- 
beard. 

“ Nothing else to-day,” said Davy, weakly. 

“ Nothing else! ” roared Blackbeard. “ Didn’t 
we tell you we wanted something else, and 
wanted it to-day? Mates,” he cried, turning 
to the other Pirates, “what is it we’ve been 
telling Davy we wanted, right along? Speak 
up!” 

“ Pumpkin Pie! ” shouted the other Pirates 
in chorus, and the parrot screamed, 

“ Pie! Pie! Pumpkin Pie! Pieces of eight! ” 

Poor Davy trembled, the Pirates looked so 
fierce, and I don’t know what he would have 
answered; but Bridget, hearing the tumult, ran 
out from the kitchen and faced the mob. 

“ Shame on ye,” she cried. “ What do ye 
mean by pestering the good man so? Isn’t 
he doing the best he can for you, you hun¬ 
gry, lazy crew? Go back into the house and 
take what you get!” 

The Pirates were as meek as could be be¬ 
fore Bridget, and even the fiery Blackbeard 
trembled. But they did not go into the 
house. Instead, one of them, who was better 


DAVY JONES’ LOCKER. 


i *3 


dressed than the others and wore an eyeglass 
in one eye, stepped forward and said, 

“ Oh, Mr. Jones, do not think we mean to 
harm you. Only we know that the Ancient 
Mariner should be back by now with his 
magical secret for making pumpkins grow 
down here, and we’ve got our mouths all 
fixed for the pies. So you must excuse us.” 

“Thanks, Captain Jinks,” said Davy. “Yes, 
the Mariner ought to be back.” 

“ Then,” shouted Bluebeard, growing bold 
again, as Bridget had returned to her kitchen, 
“ why isn’t he ? ” 

“Yes,” howled the others, “where is he?” 

And the Parrot 
squeaked, “ Where 
is he ? Pieces of 
Eight I ” 

“ I don’t know,” 
Davy said. The 
result of his answer 
was worse than he 
had feared. The 
Pirates burst into 
howls and shouts 



124 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


of anger, waving their swords and shooting off 
their pistols, while the Parrot screamed loudly. 

“ He isn’t coming. He didn’t get the secret,” 
they yelled. “Give us pumpkin pie, or we’ll 
tear down the house! ” 

Headed by Blackbeard, they made a rush for 
Davy’s Locker, and began to dig and cut at 
the timbers with their swords. Poor Davy was 
beside himself with fear, but utterly helpless to 
stop his boarders from destroying the old home 
that had sheltered him for so many hundred 
years. He blew on his whistle, and Bridget 
appeared. 

“ I’ll call the Swordfish police,” she said, 
but of course there was not one about—there 
never is when you want one! The Pirates had 
ripped the door off its hinges, and were trying 
to cut a hole through the side of the house, 
when something happened. 

A Dolphin, wearing a messenger-boy’s cap, 
and holding a message in its mouth, came 
swimming like a shot down from the waters 
above. Straight to Davy Jones it swam, and 
stopped, touching its cap with one of its front 
flippers. 


DAVY JONES’ LOCKER. 


125 


“ A message for me ? ” asked Davy. The 
Dolphin bowed, and Davy took the message 
from his mouth. Tearing it open he read aloud: 

" EXPECT ME WITH THE PUMPKIN-PIE BOY AT MID¬ 
NIGHT. TELL THE PIRATES. 

P. S. ALSO MAKE UP AN EXTRA BUNK FOR A GENTLE¬ 
MAN NAMED JOHN PIE. 

ANCIENT MARINER.” 


When they heard the message the Pirates 
stopped destroying the house, and gave a cheer 
for joy. Then they joined hands and danced 
around Davy, who was as much excited as 
they. 

“What time is it now?” asked one of 
them, who wore a skull-and-cross-bones 
hat, and was called Captain Kidd. “What 
time is it now?” 

Davy looked at his watch. 

“Nearly midnight,” he said. “They’ll y 
soon be here. I must get the place 
ready.” He blew his whistle, sum¬ 
moning the chambermaids, who 
brought fresh linen for 
the beds. 

“ For,” said Davy, “ I 






126 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


must have everything ship-shape for such a 
great personage as the boy who is going to 
show us how to grow pumpkins down here. 
And for that other gentleman the Mariner 
spoke about. Let’s see—what was his name ? 
O, yes, Mr. Pie.” 

All was bustle and excitement. The house 
was swept, Mermaids cleaned the windows, the 
Pirates brushed their clothes, braided their hair 
and beards with fresh ribbons, sharpened their 
cutlasses and oiled their boots. The Parrot 
preened his feathers, Davy scampered here and 
there, seeing to everything, and, just as all was 
done and they were beginning to feel that they 
looked fit to receive visitors! 
someone cried, as he peered 
upward through a great spy¬ 
glass, 

“ Hurrah! Here they come! ” 


.Tlllis... 

. 
























f 



CHAPTER XII. 

“ DOWN ! DOWN ! DOWN ! 

HEN Pearl, startled by the An¬ 
cient Mariners voice, fell head first 
into the Magic Spring, Joe Millers 
only thought was to save his little cousin. 
Had the spring been an ordinary one all 

















128 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


would have been well, and Pearl little the 
worse for a wetting; but, as the Ancient 
Mariner knew, it connected with the bottom of 
the ocean, so that when Joe and Pearl dis¬ 
appeared beneath the water there was nothing 
to stop them until they should reach Davy 
Jones’ locker. 

The whole affair was part of the wily old 
Mariner’s scheme. Believing that he could not 
coax or frighten Joe into either giving him his 
secret or going with him to the bottom of the 
sea, he had made Pearl fall into the spring, 
knowing that Joe would follow anywhere if his 
little cousin was in danger. 

As the Ancient Mariner grasped the Pieman’s 
hand and leaped in after the boy and girl, and 
felt the ground closing over the surface of the 
spring, he chuckled with delight. Once under the 
water he reached with his free hand till he found 
that of little Pearl, and then, certain that Joe 
was holding her other hand tightly, he dove 
straight down, dragging Joe, Pearl and the 
spluttering Pieman with him. 

Joe and Pearl were, you may believe, dread¬ 
fully frightened. But, strange to say, it was 


DOWN! DOWN! DOWN! 


129 


not any harder for them to breathe under the 
water than if they had been on land. The 
reason for this was, of course, that their plunge 
into the magic spring had cast a certain spell 
over them so that they could not drown. The 
Pieman was affected in just the same way, but 
it took him some moments to find it out, and 
until he did the Ancient Mariner had a hard 
task to hold him. 

Down, down they plunged, Pearl clinging to 
Joe’s hand with all her strength, but neither of 
them able to speak to the other. For a while 
it was as dark as your pocket, for the way led 
under the earth. Then they seemed to turn 
and go on the level, instead of downward, and 
this was so, for they had come to a turn in 
the tunnel that led them to a spot on the 
coast, but hundreds of feet below the surface 
of the sea. Here the tunnel opened into the 
ocean, and Pearl and Joe could now see better. 

Pearl perceived for the first time that it was 
the Ancient Mariner who had her by the other 
hand, and she strove to free herself, but the 
old man held her tight as he bent his head 
and again dove down. Both Joe and Pearl, 


130 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


frightened as they were, and wondering where 
they were going, could not help being amazed 
at the wonderful things they saw as they sped 
through the ocean, with the water buzzing in 
their ears. 

Great, wide-eyed fish appeared in their path 
and scuttled away in fear at the strange objects. 
They missed bumping into more than one whale, 
and, as they passed one monster with his mouth 
wide open, Joe could not help wondering what 
would happen if he should swallow them and 
cast them up on the shore, like Jonah. 

And he almost wished that the whale could 
swallow them, for well he knew where the 
Ancient Mariner was taking them all. Joe’s 
plight, as they flew through the water, was more 
uncomfortable than that of the others; besides, 
for his hollow head allowed the water to rush 
through it at a great rate, hissing and bubbling. 

Down, down, down, still sped the strange 
quartette, with never a word spoken. To Joe 
and Pearl it seemed that the journey, wherever it 
might lead them, would never end. What the 
Pieman’s thoughts were no one but himself knew. 
Afterward, he told the Canner that all he could 



Down, down they plunged. Pearl clinging to Joe s hand . 




DOWN! DOWN! DOWN! 


think of was his bread, which he had left to rise 
in the back room of his bake-shop. 

After awhile the ocean grew darker again, and 
Pearl and Joe thought that it must be because 
they were very, very deep down. It became so 
dark that they could hardly see, and Pearl was 
more than ever afraid, and clung more tightly 
to Joe’s hand. But just as they were both begin- 
, ning to think that they would never see another 
ray of light the gloom began to clear. 

It grew lighter and lighter. Could it be that 
they were nearing the surface again ? No, they 
were still going down, down, down. And the 
next insta,nt they saw, far beneath them but very 
distinct, a queer little house, surrounded by a 
brilliantly colored forest. 

In the yard in front of it were gathered a 
dozen or more men, clad as gaily as people on 
the stage. All were dancing and waving their 
arms, as though excited over something. A 
funny little man, who seemed more excited than 
any of the others, ran hither and thither, as 
though giving orders. 

Nearer and nearer came the scene, till Joe 
and Pearl thought that they would surely crash 


132 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


down on the roof of the little house. But 
the Ancient Mariner, who swam as well as any 
fish, gave a twist and a kick, the quartette turned 
completely around and began to go down feet 
first, and suddenly Pearl and Joe found them¬ 
selves standing on what seemed to be firm 
ground, in front of the house, with the strangely 
clad men skipping about them in a ring and the 
little old man bowing and scraping a welcome. 




CHAPTER XIII. 


UNDER THE SEA. 


moment the warmth of the 
greeting almost made Pearl and Joe forget that 
they had been kidnapped and were prisoners 
in Davy Jones’ locker. The Ancient Mariner 
was all smiles as he introduced them, and the 









































134 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


Pirates, though they looked very savage, cer¬ 
tainly acted very politely. 

As for Davy, he was so tickled over their 
arrival that he skipped about like a dancing 
master, shaking hands with every one, including 
himself. 

The Parrot, who announced that his name was 
“ Ruffles,” at once took a fancy to Joe, alighting 
on his shoulder, where he said, 

“ Pieces of eight, pieces of eight! ” 

“ I wouldn’t let him get too close to me, 
though,” said Pearl, for she had read somewhere 
that parrots were very fond of pumpkins, and was 
afraid that this one might try to take a bite of 
Joe’s head with his strong beak. 

“ I knew you’d come, Ancient one,” said Davy 
to the Mariner. “ I knew you wouldn’t fail poor 
old Davy Jones, who’s been trying all these 
years to raise a few pumpkins. And this is the 
young gentleman who is going to show us how 
to raise them, eh ? ” 

Then he embraced Joe, again and again, and 
stood off and looked at him, passing his grizzled 
hands over the smooth shell of the big pumpkin 
that made Joe’s body. 


UNDER THE SEA. 


i 3 S 


Joe did not like the way Davy and the Pirates 
looked at him. He had heard how hungry they 
all were for pumpkin pies, and dreaded to think 
how angry they would be when they learned that 
he could no longer tell them how to make the 
luscious vegetable grow under the seas. Poor 
boy! How gladly would he have given them 
his secret now, if he could only remember it! 

When the Ancient Mariner told Davy and his 
boarders who Pearl was, and said that Joe would 
not have been with them but for her, the rough 
men would have eaten her with hugs and kisses 
but for Bridget, who flitted into view and carried 
the little girl off to her realm, the kitchen. 

In the general welcome the Pieman was over¬ 
looked, till Davy happened to spy him standing 
alone. He rushed forward with outstretched 
hand, crying, 

“Welcome, sir! I know who you are, and 
your bunk is ready. Welcome, Mr. Pie.” 

The Pieman cast a look of reproach at the 
Ancient Mariner. 

“ Have you been at it again ? ” he asked. “ I 
do wish you’d let other folks get my name right 
if you can’t.” 



136 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


“ I apologize,” said the Ancient Mariner. “ But 
why don’t you get one of the Pirates to tattoo 
your name on your forehead ? However, I have 
something to tell Davy, and if you and the 
Pirates will look after Joe for a while I’ll be 
obliged.” 

The Ancient Mariner and Davy went into the 
house, leaving Joe with the Pirates, who prom¬ 
ised to be very careful with him, and the Pieman 
strolled off among the scenery. 

The moment that Joe found himself alone 
with the Pirates he grew alarmed, for he was 
afraid that in their hurry for pumpkin pies they 
might cut him up. 

“ Are all boys on earth like you ? ” asked 
Blackbeard. “ Because if they are they’ve 
changed since I was a Pirate and roamed the 
Spanish Main.” 

“ I’m the only one like me,” said Joe, “ and 
I’ve been this way just a little while.” 

“ Do you suppose,” asked another, whom 
Joe recognized as Captain Kidd, “ do you 
suppose that if we cut you up you’d feel 
it?” 

“ I think quite likely,” replied Joe, now really 


UNDER THE SEA. 


!37 


frightened, and wishing that the Ancient Mariner 
would return. 

“You might spare just a little slice,” said 
another, the owner of the Parrot, whom his mates 
called John Silver. “ Little boys should be 
generous.” 

But at this moment a fresh young voice was 
heard, and a dapper little chap, whom Joe had 
not seen, rushed out from the crowd and put 
his arm through that of the frightened boy. 

“Stop scaring this lad,” cried the young 
fellow to the Pirates, who laughed and turned 
away. Then he said 
to Joe, 

“ My name is Mid¬ 
shipman Easy, and I 








138 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


won’t let them harm you. I guess they’re just 
trying to scare you, anyway, but let’s go away 
from them.” 

“ Thank you,” said Joe, “ I’d like to see if my 
little cousin is all right, if you please.” 

So Midshipman Easy led Joe around to the 
back of the house, where they found Pearl 
seated in a coral chair in the kitchen yard, 
telling her story to Bridget and the chamber¬ 
maids. Bridget declared she had never heard 
of such a thing. 

“ But,” said she, “ you needn’t be afraid while 
I’m here. If those pirates try any of their 
shinnanegans with you I’ll throw hot water on 
them, so I will.” 

In a few minutes they saw the Pieman com¬ 
ing, who told them that Davy and the Ancient 
Mariner wished to speak to Joe and Pearl. So 
the children left their new friends and went 
into a little grotto in among the seaweed, 
where they found the two men. 

Davy had heard all about how Joe had been 
captured by the Ancient Mariner, who also told 
him that the boy claimed to have forgotten his 
wonderful secret. 







‘They found Pearl 
seated in a coral chair 



















UNDER THE SEA. 


139 


“ Perhaps, though,” said Davy, “ he’s only 
shamming. If he is I'll make him tell me, 
somehow. If he doesn’t — well, the Pirates 
expect pumpkin pie for dinner to-day, and 
they’ll get it by fair means or foul.” 

So, when Joe eame near him he began at once 
to try to gain the secret. 

“Joe,” said he, “ the Ancient one tells me that 
you don’t remember anything about making 
pumpkins grow. Is that so ? ” 

“ The moment the Corn Dodger turned me 
into a pumpkin boy,” said Joe, “ I forgot it.” 

“ But,” said Davy, “ don’t you think you could 
remember it if I was to let you go right home 
again after you told me ? ” 

“ No,” said the boy, “ not even for that.” 

“ I’ve found,” said the Ancient Mariner, “ that 
when I’ve forgotten names I can remember them 
by going down the alphabet. 

’Tain’t A, ’tain’t B, C, D, and so on, till I hit 
the right letter. It’s a good plan.” 

“ It’s a wonder you’d never try that when 
you forget my name,” said the Pieman. 

At that moment there rose a roar from the 
Pirates on the other side of the house that 


140 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


made Davy tremble and clutch the Ancient 
Mariner’s arm in fear. 

“ It’s the Pirates,” he whispered. “ And do 
you hear what they are saying ? ” 

Joe and Pearl listened, and what they heard 
did not make them feel very easy. 

“ Pie, Pie, pumpkin pie ! ” shouted the Pirates 
in a gruff, sing-song sort of way. “Where’s 
that pumpkin pie ? ” 

“ If you don’t help me,” said Davy to Joe, “ I 
wouldn’t be surprised if they cut you up. 
They’re a desperate lot, you see.” 

“ O, do try to think, Joe,” cried Pearl, with 
tears in her eyes. “You must remember.” 

. “It’s no use,” said Joe, shaking his empty 
head. “ I can’t do it.” 

“We mustn’t let the Pirates know how 
matters stand,” said the 




UNDER THE SEA. 


they might be revenged on us all. Tell them 
it takes some time for Joe to get things started, 
and in the meantime he’s got to keep out of 
the way. Where shall we put him where he 
can be safe ? ” 

“ I know,” said Davy, “ we’ll lock him up in 
Midshipman Easy’s room. They’ll never get 
him there.” 

So Joe was led quietly in at the back door 
of the house and up some rickety stairs to a 
little room. Into this they thrust him, and bade 
him be very quiet till they could pacify the 
Pirates. 

As for Pearl, it was decided that she should 
assist in keeping the hungry Pirates calm, so, 
when the dinner-bell rang, the little girl went 
into the main cabin, as they called 



I 








boat. It was very small, but nicely fitted up, 
with pictures of sea-fights and one or two 
maps on the walls. Along one side ran a 































































Pearl , ?neanwhile was guest of honor at dinner. 


i 










































I 


MOTHER CAREY TO THE RESCUE. 


M 3 


bunk, fastened to the wall, and over this was 
a little round window. Midshipman Easy must 
live comfortably, thought Joe as he looked 
around. 

But the next moment the need of remem¬ 
bering his secret made Joe forget all else. If 
he did not tell Davy how to grow pumpkins, 
and that very soon, very likely the Pirates 
would eat him instead. As for Pearl, he did 
not know what they would do with her. 

He must remember his secret. How did it 
go ? He sat down on the bunk and squeezed 
his pumpkin-head between his hands, trying to 
force his memory. 

“First you take a pumpkin! First you take 
a pumpkin ! ” But this was all that he could 
recall. In despair, he threw himself on the 
bunk, face down, and buried his head in the 
sheets. 

Suddenly he heard a sound as of something 
tapping on the little window over the bunk. 
He looked up and saw a fish that was flap¬ 
ping its fin against the pane, to attract his 
attention. 

Joe climbed on the bunk and opened the 


144 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


window, and the fish swam into the room. 
Then Joe noticed, tied to the fish’s tail with 
a piece of seaweed, a scallop shell, on the 
inner side of which was writing. He unfast¬ 
ened the shell from the fish’s tail and read: 

“YOU ARE IN DEEP TROUBLE, BUT DO 
NOT BE AFRAID. I AM WATCHING YOU. 

TRY TO REMEMBER YOUR SECRET: BUT 
IF YOU CANNOT, AND THE PIRATES SEEK 
TO HARM YOU, MAKE USE OF THE TALIS¬ 
MAN WHICH I GAVE YOU IN THE CORN¬ 
FIELD.” 

To this was signed Mother Carey’s name. 
Joe looked for the fish, thinking to send some 
reply, but the little messenger was gone and 
the window had closed behind it. 

In the excitement of the last hour Joe 
had completely forgotten the sea-shell which 
Mother Carey had given him, and which still 
hung about his neck. But as he looked at 


MOTHER CAREY TO THE RESCUE. 


145 


it now he recalled how he had tried to blow 
on it when he first found himself changed 
into a pumpkin, and how impossible it was 
because of the shape of his new mouth, which 
would not pucker around the mouthpiece on 
the shell. He raised his hand to his shiny face 
and found, to his surprise, that the skin of 
the pumpkin was now quite soft, owing, of 
course, to its having been under water so 
long. Looking in the glass Joe saw, to his 
delight, that he could move his features quite 
easily now. 

He half put the sea-shell to his lips, in¬ 
tending to summon Mother Carey’s aid at 
once, but reflected that he had better not 
trouble her just yet, as he might need her 
so much more a little while later. 

So he sat down on the bunk again, hap¬ 
pier than before, and tried to recall his. 
method of making pumpkins grow. 

Pearl, meanwhile, was the guest of honor 
at dinner in the big cabin below. The din¬ 
ing-table ran the full length of a big room 
which extended from end to end of the ship, 
and when Davy’s boarders had all taken their 


146 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


places, which they did noisily and with little 
ceremony, Pearl felt lost in the presence of 
such a great number of men. For she was 
the only lady present. 

She sat between Davy Jones and the An¬ 
cient Mariner, at the center of the table. 
Facing her were some of the most savage 
looking of the Pirates, who shocked the re¬ 
fined little girl with their rude manners, for 
they ate with their knives and, when they 
took soup, made a tremendous noise about it, 
which, as Pearl knew, was not the way to 
do. And when mermaids came in from the 
kitchen with fresh dishes of things to eat, 
they grabbed for the choicest pieces, knocking 
over their tumblers and spilling food on the 
table. 

Poor Davy was embarrassed, and tried to 
make the Pirates behave themselves better, for 
he wished Pearl to think that she was among 
gentlemen. But the only persons of the 
whole company who made the least pretence 
to good breeding were Midshipman Easy and 
Captain Jinks of the Horse Marines. If it 
had not been for them, Pearl would have 


MOTHER CAREY TO THE RESCUE. 


147 


fared badly, in spite of Bridget’s care, for 
Midshipman Easy always passed her every¬ 
thing before he helped himself, and Captain 
Jinks saw that she had the butter and the 
salt and other things. 

Davy himself, I dare say, would have been 
more attentive, but he was too busy trying to 
keep his Piratical boarders half way quiet. 

Pearl was not hungry in the face of so 
much excitement, but even if she had been 
she would have found it hard to eat the food 

































148 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


“ Won’t you have some corned beef and 
cabbage ? ” asked Midshipman Easy, passing 
the dish to her. But it did not look a bit 
like the corned beef and cabbage to which 
she had been used at home. When she 
said so, Midshipman Easy explained. 

“ Of course it isn’t real corned beef, and it 
isn’t real cabbage,” he said. '‘We have no 
cows down here, so we use fish instead, but 
call it by different names. Thus codfish we 
call corned beef, and when we wish to have 
spring lamb we use sharks. This cabbage is 
seaweed, but what of it? It’s the best we 
can get, you know.” 

Pearl thought it quite sensible of them 
to make themselves believe they were eat¬ 
ing things they liked, and fancied that she 
might get used to their ways in a little 
while. 

“And I suppose,” she said, “when you want 
ice cream, you just serve a plateful of sand, 
and call it by the other name.” 

The Ancient Mariner was too busy eating 
to pay much attention to Pearl throughout 
the meal, and the Pieman, who sat between 


MOTHER CAREY TO THE RESCUE. 


149 


Captain Kidd and Blackbeard, was having a 
dreadful time with his neighbors, who spilled 
things in his lap and down his back in their 
hurry to get their share from the dishes as 
they were passed. Pearl wished that Joe were 
with her, but shuddered to think what might 
happen to 'him at dinner with such hungry 
people as the Pirates. 

Finally, the dinner was over, and the mer¬ 
maids began to clear away the plates. 

“And now,” whispered Captain Jinks to 
Pearl, “we are going to have dessert. What 
do you think there is going to be?” 

“ I haven’t the slightest idea,” said Pearl. 
“Do you know?” 

“Yes,” said Captain Jinks. “I’ll whisper 
to you.” He leaned across the table and 
put his lips close to Pearl’s ear, saying, 

“Pumpkin pie!” 

Davy overheard him, and leaped from his 
chair. 

“ What! ” he exclaimed. “ Do you boarders 
think that you are going to have pumpkin 
pie as soon as this ? ” 

“Why, yes,” said Blackbeard. “The pump- 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


15 ° 

kin boy is here, isn’t he? And surely he 
has had time to raise a few pumpkins.” 

In vain Davy tried to explain to the Pi¬ 
rates, who had all risen to their feet and 
clustered about him angrily, that it took some 
time to make pumpkins grow. The Pirates, 
who had been waiting so long for their treat, 
had lost all patience and with it all their 
sense. They climbed on the table, they leaped 
up and down in anger, shouting, 

“ Pie, Pie, Pumpkin pie! ” 

And then Pearl did a most foolish thing, 
for which she was sorry the moment after. 
But the Pirates made her so angry that, 
before she thought, she said, 

“Joe hasn’t had time to raise any pumpkins, 
you horrid men, and even if he did have 
you wouldn’t get any pie, for he isn’t going 
to tell you how he makes them grow.” 

As the Pirates heard this their rage knew 
no bounds. 

“ What! ” cried Blackbeard, “ Isn’t going to 
tell us ? Where is he ? ” 

“ You shan’t touch him,” cried Pearl, and 
darted from the room and up the stairs to 


MOTHER CAREY TO THE RESCUE. 151 

warn Joe that the Pirates were after him. 
With a yell Blackbeard drew his sword and 
rushed after her, and all the others followed 
him, let Davy and the Ancient Mariner and 
Midshipman Easy and Captain Jinks do all 
they might to hold them back. 

But Bridget, who heard the noise from the 
kitchen, and Pearl reached the room where 
Joe was locked in first, and, placing her lips 
to the keyhole, Pearl called, 

“Joe, Joe, jump out of the window. The 
Pirates are after you.” 

Joe heard his little cousin’s voice. He also 
heard the shouts of the Pirates as they 
thronged up the stairs. He looked at the 
window. It was too small by far for him to 
get through. Suddenly he remembered Mother 
Carey’s talisman. Placing the sea-shell to his 
lips he blew three loud blasts. 

Immediately there appeared, just outside the 
window, two immense swordfish. With one 
stroke of their sharp swords they cut an 
opening in the side of the ship large enough 
for Joe to climb through, and as he did so 
a fairy, whom he recognized as Sea-Mew, 


152 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


one of Mother Carey’s Chickens, drove up 
on the back of a shark, saddled and 
bridled, leading another shark by the reins. 
She beckoned to Joe who leaped on the back 
of the second shark and off they went, 
just as the door of Joe’s room was burst 
open, and the Pirates tumbled in, shouting, 

“ Where is he ? We’ve come 
him up! ” 








CHAPTER XV. 

IN MOTHER CAREY’S PALACE. 

O doubt you remember that 
the Corn Dodger, too late to join 
his friend, the Ancient Mariner, 
when he leaped into the magic spring, was 
caught by the knees as the ground closed 
over the water, and was carried off by his 





















i54 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


old enemy, Ike Cannem, the Canner, leaving 
Pearl’s father and mother, the Schoolmaster 
and the others, gazing stupidly at the 
ground. 

The Canner never stopped running till he 
had put a good distance between himself and 
the cornfield, and then, binding the Corn 
Dodger hand and foot to a fence post, he 
sat down to gloat over his good luck. For, 
though he had not succeeded in getting any 
of the big pumpkins he had come so far 
to find, he had the finest specimen of corn 
in the world, he thought, and his fortune 
was made. 

The Corn Dodger, tied to the fence post, 
kicked and squirmed and begged to be re¬ 
leased, but the Canner only laughed. 

“No, sir,” said he, “I’ve got you, and I’m 
going to take you to my factory, away down 
in Bermuda. There I’ll can the greater part 
of you, and sell you at a dollar a can. I’ll 
save enough to plant and raise some more 
for next year.” 

The Corn Dodger had been no easy weight 
to carry, and as the Canner thought of having 


IN MOTHER CAREY’S PALACE. 


*55 


to take him all the way to the village he 
was troubled. 

“ I guess I’d better get a wheelbarrow/’ he 
said, finally. “ You’ll be safe enough there, 
and I won’t be gone long.” 

So, whistling a lively tune, he started down 
the road to borrow a wheelbarrow, leaving the 
Corn Dodger bound to the fence post. 

Now, the Corn Dodger was not so bad a 
Sprite as you must have imagined. He had 
worked the transformation in Joe Miller with¬ 
out thinking of the trouble it would cause 
everyone, and was already very sorry for 
what he had done. All his life he had been 
doing kind things, such as setting aside a 
part of every crop for the field mice, wood¬ 
chucks, rabbits and other animals of the fields, 
when he might just as easily have kept them 
from getting anything to eat. These little 
creatures were very fond of him. 

As he struggled with his bonds, and called 
for help, a little field mouse heard him, and 
poked his nose out of a nest in the dry stub¬ 
ble in a field near by. The mouse’s sharp 
eyes saw the Corn Dodger fastened to the 


156 THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 

fence, and he jumped out and ran to the 
Sprite’s rescue. 

“ Quick, field mouse I ” cried the Dodger, as 
he saw the little fellow coming, “ untie me and 
I’ll never forget you.” 

The field mouse’s teeth had the cords cut 
in less than no time, and with a shout of tri¬ 
umph the Dodger disappeared in the darkness, 
just as the Canner returned up the road with 
a wheelbarrow. 

Dropping the wheelbarrow, the Canner 
bounded after the Corn Dodger, who led him 
a merry chase in the moonlight across farms 
and barnyards, through bramble and swamp. 
The Dodger was making for a cave in the 
mountain nearby, which led, as he knew, 
to the regions under the ground, and, he 
hoped, to the bottom of the sea, for there, 
and there only, did he think he could escape 
the Canner. 

But as he reached the mouth of the cave 
and dove in, the Canner was right on his 
heels, and, with no thought of where it might 
lead him, leaped after the Sprite. They were 
lost in the darkness, where we may leave 



IN MOTHER CAREY’S PALACE. 157 

them for the present, and return to Joe, whom 
we left escaping from the Pirates on the back 
of a shark. 

Sea-Mew said nothing to Joe as the 

two sharks sped on the water, until they 

were some distance from Davy Jones’ 
locker. Then, as they turned a corner, Joe 
saw before him a beautiful palace, built of 
coral,. and surrounded by a forest of sea¬ 

weed of more brilliant colors than the autumn 
leaves on the hills about Farmer Pringle’s 


























THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


158 


“ Here we are, safe and sound,” cried Sea- 
Mew, and alighted from the shark’s back, 
throwing the reins to a bluefish in livery, 
who also took charge of Joe’s swimming 
steed. 

Then, leading Joe by the hand, the fairy 
hurried on over the sparkling sands, until 
they reached the doors of the palace, which 
were opened by another fish in livery. 

As they crossed the portals, Joe stopped, 
dazzled by the beauty of the scene. If the 
outside of the palace was gorgeous, there were 
no words to describe the interior. They were 
in a great hall, formed of countless arches of 
pink, green, white and yellow coral, through 
the pillars supporting which shone a soft 
light that made the walls, ceiling and floor 
glitter like diamonds. Overhead there fluttered 
winged fish, like birds; sweet music filled 
the place, made, as Joe found out afterward, 
by trumpet fish hidden in little caves in the 
walls. 

While Joe was observing these wonders 
there came the sound of martial music, and 
in marched a regiment of soldiers, headed by 


IN MOTHER CAREY’S PALACE. 


159 


a band of fiddler crabs and shellfish, who 
clanged their shells together like cymbals or 
drums. And, following them came a chariot, 
drawn by sea-horses and escorted by more 
soldiers, fish, like the others. 

In this chariot sat Mother Carey, more beau¬ 
tiful than when Joe had first met her. She 
nodded her head to the boy as she swept 
past on her way to her throne room, to which 
Sea-Mew bade Joe follow with her. 

The throne room was even more gorgeous 
than the great hall, but there is no use in 
trying to describe it. Just close your eyes and 
dream of all the beautiful things you have 
ever seen or read about, and you may begin 
to imagine something like it. But I do not 
think it possible. At one end of the room 
was the throne, made of coral, mother-of- 
pearl, and shells, and upon it, surrounded by 
her Chickens, sat Mother Carey, who beck¬ 
oned Joe to approach. 

Tremblingly the boy did so, and knelt be¬ 
fore the Fairy, who said, 

“Joe, I have saved you from the Pirates, 
as I said I would. You cannot be harmed 


160 THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 

while you are here, and no one can take you 
away as long as you obey me in everything. 
But beware. Davy Jones is now my enemy, 
and he and the Pirates will try to get you. 
They are very tricky, and when they find 
they cannot take you by force will try other 
ways. So be careful. In the meantime, you 
must try to remember your secret for mak¬ 
ing pumpkins grow. That is the only way 
you can get back to earth. I shall put 
you in charge of a very learned person, the 
Owl-fish, who will give you memory lessons 
in hopes of helping you. I leave you in his 
care.” 

Joe thanked Mother Carey, and was led 
away by the Owl-fish, who wore a cap and 
gown and spectacles, and looked very wise 
and not unlike Mr. Dudley, the Schoolmaster 
up in Vermont. 

It was vacation time in the school, so that 
Joe was the only pupil. Many little boy 
fish, however, came to the windows and looked 
in at him as he sat at his lonely desk, and 
wondered why he had to study when they 
were playing. But Joe, while he would have 


IN MOTHER CAREY’S PALACE. 161 

liked to be outside with them, enjoying him¬ 
self, bent to his task eagerly, and did all 
he could to help remember the lost secret 
of making pumpkins grow. 

The Owl-fish tried all the methods he knew, 
but to no avail. Joe could remember the 
date of the battle of Bunker Hill, how old 
Methuselah was when he died, the Declara¬ 
tion of Independence from beginning to end, 
and no sum in arithmetic was too hard for 
him to do at once. He rattled off the 

capitals of all the States and the Kings 
of England with no trouble, but when it 
came to the matter of pumpkins all he could 
say was, 

“ First you take a pumpkin! First you take 

a pumpkin, and then-” And that was as 

far as he could get. 

All day long he sat at his task. Away 
into the night he stayed awake in his 

room, trying by the light of some phos¬ 

phorus fish to find the answer in many 
books. All next day he kept at it, but it 

was no use. 

Late in the afternoon, as he sat at his 


162 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


desk in the quiet schoolroom, wondering if 
he should ever see his home again, and 

fearing to think of what had become of 

Pearl, an idea struck him. 

If they could only get the Corn Dodger! 
The Sprite might turn him back into a boy 

now, he thought. Then he would be sure to 

remember the secret. But how could they find 
the Corn Dodger ? 

If Joe had only known it, the Sprite was 
very near him at that very time, for when 
he dove into the cave, pursued by the Canner, 
his course led him down through the water 
towards Davy Jones’ regions. 

Joe looked out of the window, hopelessly, 
and the next moment gave a shout that made 
the Owl-fish rap with a ruler on his desk for 
silence in the schoolroom. But Joe did not 
hear him. Instead the boy, with his face 
pressed against the window pane, was cheering 
aloud, for he saw, floating through the water, 
kicking and scrambling, the Corn Dodger 
himself, and, some distance behind him, the 
Canner. 

Joe threw open the window. The Corn 



7 he Corn Dodger dove in. 
























IN MOTHER CAREY’S PALACE. 


Dodger dove in, and the window was shut 
again with a bang, just as the Canner came 
plump against it with such force that his 
silk hat was crushed down over his eyes, 
leaving him struggling to get it off. 
























































CHAPTER XVI. 


PLOTS AND PLANS. 


HE Owl-fish, frightened nearly 
of his scales, fled from the 
- room, leaving Joe to handle the Corn 
Dodger alone. The boy threw the Sprite 
to the floor and sat on him, till the Corn 

















PLOTS AND PLANS. 


l( >5 

Dodger begged to be let up. 

“ Do with me as you will,” he pleaded, 
“ only don’t flatten me into fritters! ” 

But Joe was bound that the Corn Dodger 
should not escape him, and called loudly for 
help. Several of the Palace guards came hur¬ 
rying into the room, and the Corn Dodger, 
bound securely, was led before Mother Carey. 

“ Well,” said Mother Carey, when the Sprite 
had finished speaking, “ you have done Joe a 
great injury, and ought to be severely pun¬ 
ished, as you probably will be when the Queen 
of all fairies hears of your actions. In the 
meantime, though, I am glad that you are 
willing to repair part of the injury by chang¬ 
ing Joe back to a boy. Do it right away, so 
that he and Pearl can go to their home on 
the land, after Joe has remembered his pump¬ 
kin secret and given it to Davy Jones. 

“Alas, Madame,” cried the unhappy Dodger, 
“ I am willing but powerless. I am only a 
land sprite, and under the sea I have no 
power at all. I can only make the change 
in Joe in my own realm, the corn field.” 

“I am not so sure of that,” said Mother 


i66 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


Carey. “ I shall consult the Fairies’ Guide 
Book, a copy of which I have in my library, 
and see what it says. Many fairies have 
powers that they do not know they possess, 
and this wonderful book tells all about such 
things. Until I am sure that you cannot make 
the change in Joe here I shall hold you a 
prisoner.” 

The guards were about to lead the Corn 
Dodger away when he gave a scream and 
began to search frantically through his pockets. 

“I’ve lost it, I’ve lost it!” he cried. 

“ Lost what ? ” asked Mother Carey. 

“ My can-opener,” replied the Corn Dodger. 
“ My only opener. All my life I’ve been 
afraid of being caught and canned, and have 
carried the can-opener to cut my way out. 
And now, when the Canner is right on my 
track, it’s gone. I had it when I was diving 
through the water, but now it’s lost.” 

He looked so pitiable that even Joe was 
sorry for him, but Mother Carey smiled. 

“You need not fear just now,” she said. 
“The Canner cannot get you in my palace, 
but if you like there is an an old diver’s suit 


PLOTS AND PLANS. 


167 


in the storeroom, and you can put that on. 
Then you will be safe anywhere.” 

The Corn Dodger thanked Mother Carey 
with tears in his eyes, and put the divers 
suit on at once when a servant brought it 
from the storeroom. Then a big ball and 
chain were attached to his leg, and he was 
left to roam about the palace, a prisoner, the 
weight of the ball keeping him from going 
very far. 

Joe was very happy over the Corn Dodgers 
capture, for he was sure that Mother Carey 
would find some forgotten rule in the Fairies’ 
Guide Book that would enable the Sprite to 

















i68 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


turn him back into a boy. Then he would 
be able to remember his secret, tell it to Davy 
and the Pirates, and, with Pearl, return home. 
He could have danced with joy, but for worry¬ 
ing about Pearl, though the scouts that Mother 
Carey had sent out to find how she was 
being treated had brought back word that the 
Pirates had done the little girl no harm. 

The Pirates and Davy, when they found that 
Joe had escaped them, never thought of blam¬ 
ing Pearl. They knew that Mother Carey had 
carried the boy away, and their anger was all 
directed toward her. 

Davy himself was wild at the Fairy’s inter¬ 
ference, and loudly declared that he would 
recapture Joe. 

“ I’ll teach her to mind her own business,” 
he cried. “ I’ll get the boy if I have to tear 
her coral palace down.” 

But Bridget laughed at him, and said, with 
her arm about Pearl, 

“ It isn't the likes of you that’ll ever get Joe 
away from good Mother Carey, bless her! 
And now that you’ve lost all hopes of learning 
how to raise pumpkins, perhaps you’ll be good 


PLOTS AND PLANS. 


169 


enough to let this little girl go home to her 
papa and mamma.” 

“ No,” said Pearl, “ I don’t want to go till 
Joe goes with me.” 

The Pirates could not help cheering Pearl 
for her bravery and loyalty to Joe, and Cap¬ 
tain Kidd picked her up on his shoulders and 
rode her around the place, while the others 
formed a procession behind her, waving their 
hats. It was growing late, however, so Bridget 
led Pearl away to a little room next to hers, 
and put her to bed, nicely tucked in beneath a 
coverlet of sea-moss. 

But there was no sleep for Davy and the 
Pirates, that night. 

You know that when you want something 
and find suddenly that you can’t have it, you 
want it a great deal more than you did when 
you thought you could get it without any 
trouble. So it was with the Pirates and the 
pumpkin pies. All these years they had been 
waiting for pumpkin pies, and on Joe’s arrival 
it seemed as though their desire was about to 
be gratified. But now that the boy and his 
secret for raising pumpkins had gone, their 


170 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


mouths simply watered for pumpkin pies, and 
they were bound to have them, by fair means 
or foul. 

“ It’s just like this,” said Davy to the An¬ 
cient Mariner and the Pieman, as they sat in a 
dark corner of the yard at midnight, looking 
over their shoulders at the Pirates, who were 
talking angrily among themselves. “ Those 
boarders of mine are going to have pumpkin 
pies this time, or know the reason why. Pve 
got to get them at least one meal of pie, some¬ 
how. If Joe has lost his secret, and I guess 
he has, we must get him and cut him up. 
There’s no way out of it. They’ve already 
tried to tear my house down and this time 
they’ll do, sure.” 

“But how,” asked the Pieman, “are we go¬ 
ing to get Joe ? ” 

“That’s just it,” said Davy. “The Mariner, 
here, always has ideas. Suppose he suggests 
some way.” 

The Ancient Mariner thought long and 
deeply. At last he said, 

“If we could make Joe think that Pearl was 
in need of his help, he’d come to her and 



then we could catch 
him.” 

“Mother Carey 
wouldn’t let him,” said 
Davy. 

“But Mother Carey 
needn’t know about it. I’ll find 
out what room in the coral palace 
he has, and if it’s far enough away from 
where the Fairies sleep I’ll tell you the rest 
of the plan that I’ve thought out.” 

He would say no more, and went off alone, 
to inspect Mother Carey’s palace, while Davy 
and the Pieman devoted the rest of the night 
to keeping the Pirates good-natured and hope¬ 
ful. They had a hard time doing this, and 
when morning came both were pretty well 
tired out. 















172 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


Fresh from a good night’s rest, Pearl ap¬ 
peared in the doorway of Davy Jones’ locker, 
and, with Bridget, summoned the Pirates and 
Davy to breakfast. At the table the little girl 
was surprised to notice how much more atten¬ 
tive everyone was to her than they had been 
at dinner the day before. She did not know 
that Davy had told them part of the Ancient 
Mariner’s plan for Joe’s capture, and that she 
was to be used as a means of getting the 
boy away from Mother Carey’s palace. Mid¬ 
shipman Easy, who had not been allowed to 
hear the Pirates’ planning during the night, 
also noticed the change in the Pirates’ actions, 
and suspected that there was something in the 
wind. He made up his mind to be on the 
watch. 

“ I never was cut out to associate with 
these Pirates,” Midshipman Easy said to Pearl, 
“and if I could go up to your home on 
earth when you do. I’d be very happy. Do 
you think you could arrange it?” 

“ I’m sure my papa and mamma would be 
very glad to see you,” said Pearl. 

During breakfast the Ancient Mariner ap- 


PLOTS AND PLANS. 


*73 


peared and took his place at the table beside 
Davy. Pearl heard him whisper, 

“He’s in the third room from the front, on 
the side by the sea-fan forest.” 

This meant, though she did not know it, 
that the Ancient Mariner had located Joe’s 
room in Mother Carey’s palace. 

On hearing this news, Davy became very 
cheerful, and his merriment was caught by 
the Pirates, so that Pearl thought she had 
never met jollier people. If Joe had only 
been with her the little girl would have been 
quite happy. 

After breakfast, while some of the Pirates 
took Pearl for a romp among the shell fields 
near the house, the Ancient Mariner led the 
Pieman aside and showed him something that 
he had in his pocket. The Pieman’s eyes 
bulged as he saw it. 

“Why,” said he, “it’s a can-opener.” 

“ Yes,” said the Ancient Mariner, “ I found 
it under Joe’s window at Mother Carey’s pal¬ 
ace. It means that the Corn Dodger’s some¬ 
where around.” 

“What’s he doing here?” 


174 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


“ I don’t know. But he mustn’t see Joe Mil¬ 
ler. If he does he might change him back to 
a boy again, and then Joe could defy us. 
And if those Pirates don't get him to cut 
up for pumpkin pies, don’t you suppose that 
Davy’ll have revenge on me ? ” 

The Pieman shook his head. “ I wouldn’t 
say anything about the can-opener,” he said. 
“Just hurry the plans to catch Joe.” 

“ Aye, aye,” said the Ancient Mariner, “ and 
in the meantime, this can-opener comes in 
very handy to open oysters with.” 

Oysters were the Ancient Mariner’s pet food. 
But those in the sand and on the rocks 
about Davy Jones’ locker were very large, 
quite big enough, some of them, to contain 
a man in their great shells. So that they 
were hard to open. The can-opener, as he 
said, was just the thing, and, finding a 
giant oyster near by, he stooped over it 
and began prying between the shells, while 
the Pieman looked on in wonder. 

Suddenly the shells parted as though re¬ 
leased by a spring, and the Ancient Mariner 
fell backward, head over heels, as from the 


PLOTS AND PLANS. 


175 


inside leaped forth not an oyster, but a man. 
And that man was Ike Cannem, the Canner, 
of all people 1 






























MOTHER CAREY OUTWITTED. 


_HE Canner ! ” cried the Ancient 

Mariner. 

“None other!” replied the latter, with a 
smile, as he proceeded to smooth his high hat 
on his sleeve. “And all I have to say is that 
I’m glad you’ve come along, for I was getting 
tired of being in there. I’m a canner, and I 


CHAPTER XVII. 









































MOTHER CAREY OUTWITTED. 


177 


can can almost everything, but I never thought 
I’d can myself.” 

Davy Jones and the Pirates came running to 
the spot when they heard the Ancient Mariner’s 
cries of surprise, and to each of them Mr. 
Cannem gave one of his cards. Then he told 
his story. 

“Finding no way of getting into the palace 
after him, I looked about for a place to put 
up for the night. I walked till I grew tired, 
and reached this spot, where I sat down to 
rest. I must have sat in the oyster shell while 
it was open, for the next thing I knew it closed 
over me, and I was a prisoner.” 

The Canner’s story threw the Pirates into 
great turmoil. 

“ If the Corn Dodger has been captured by 
Mother Carey,” said Blackbeard, “she’ll make 
him turn Joe into a boy right away, and then 
we'll never find out how to grow pumpkins, 
and never have a pumpkin pie! ” 

“No pumpkin pies!” moaned the others. 

“ We must be quick,” said Davy. “ Ancient, 
what’s your plan that you’ve been keeping so 
secret ? ” 


i 7 8 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


The Ancient Mariner told them. Davy Jones 
was the proud owner of six wonderfully trained 
sea-horses which he used to draw his state 
chariot when he went on his yearly visit to 
Neptune, the King of the Wind and Waves. 
For, though Davy Jones was all powerful in 
his part of the bottom of the ocean, he was 
ruled, like Mother Carey and all other submar¬ 
ine fairies, by this ancient person, and, once a 
year, had to travel to his kingdom, far away, 
to tell how he had been managing affairs in 
his charge. The sea-horses Davy had trained 
himself, and they were so intelligent that they 
could do almost any trick he asked of them. 

It was the Ancient Mariner’s idea to let 
Pearl take a ride in the chariot, driving the 
sea-horses herself. The animals were to be 
told to go by the window of Mother Carey’s 
palace that lighted Joe’s room. When they 
should arrive there, they were to pretend to 
be frightened, and cut up at a great rate, which 
would certainly alarm the little girl and make 
her call for help. Joe, seeing her plight through 
his window, would surely try to go to her aid, 
and, if he could, force his way through the bars 


MOTHER CAREY OUTWITTED. 


09 


of the window. Once outside, the Pirates, hid¬ 
den behind the great sea-fans that grew near 
by, were to capture him and carry him off 
to Davy’s locker before the palace guards 
could know what was going on. 

“Splendid!” cried Davy when the Ancient 
Mariner finished. “ Harness the sea-horses at 
once, and tell Pearl that she can go for a 
drive. Tell her, too, that she may pass 
Mother Carey’s palace, where she may see 
Joe, perhaps.” 

So the chariot, drawn by the six sea-horses, 
came out from the stables, and Pearl was 
summoned. 
















i8o THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 

afraid to drive them alone, but Davy assured 
her that they were perfectly safe, and would 
not hurt even a baby Mermaid. “ Besides,” 
he added, “ I’ll talk to them.” 

This he did, whispering in each sea-horse’s 
ear. But what he told them was what the 
Ancient Mariner wanted them to do, though 
he warned them not to really run away or 
tip the chariot over, for he did not wish to 
have Pearl injured in any way. 

Pearl cracked her whip and the chariot 
started, when a voice cried, 

“ Ho, wait for me! ” It was Ruffles, the Par¬ 
rot, and Pearl reined in her prancing steeds 
till the fat bird waddled to the chariot and 
climbed aboard, perching himself behind her. 

“ Pieces of eight! ” screamed Ruffles. “ Get 
up ! ” 

Off went the sea-horses, with Pearl waving 
her hand to the Pirates and Ruffles chuck¬ 
ling and flapping his wings. 

When Pearl was fairly out of sight, six of 
the Pirates, headed by Blackbeard, hurried 
away by a roundabout road, to reach the 
forest of sea-fans ahead of the little girl. This 


MOTHER CAREY OUTWITTED. 181 

they did, and remained in hiding, with their 
eyes fixed on a window in Mother Carey’s 
palace, the one that belonged to Joe’s room. 

In a few minutes they heard Pearl’s chariot 
approaching, the seashell bells on the sea¬ 
horses jingling, and Ruffles’ voice screaming, 

“ Get up! Get up! Pieces of eight! ” 

Their hearts beating with excitement, the 
Pirates awaited the moment when the char¬ 
iot should reach Joe’s window, where the sea¬ 
horses were to pretend to be frightened and 
make believe tip the chariot over. 

Within the palace sat Joe Miller, heavy- 
hearted. Mother Carey was still in the library 
peering over the pages of the Fairies’ Guide 
Book, but as nothing had been heard from 
her in all these hours there seemed little 
hope that she would find a way for the Corn 
Dodger to change him back into his own form 
under the sea. It seemed useless, but Joe was 
still trying to think of some way to recall 
his pumpkin secret, and sat beneath his win¬ 
dow;, saying over and over again, 

“First you take a pumpkin! First you take 
a pumpkin! ” 


l8z 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


Suddenly he heard the sound of bells from 
outside, and the crack of a whip. Then there 
fell on his ears a sound he knew well. It was 
Pearl’s voice, raised in laughter, for the sea¬ 
horses, on nearing Mother Carey’s palace, had 
already begun to caper and prance. The little 
girl, however, remembering that Davy had said 
they were perfectly safe, feared nothing, and 
laughed to see them shake their manes and 
tails. Joe leaped to the window as he heard 
his little cousin’s voice, and looked out. He 
saw her coming by in the chariot, and the 
next moment his heart sank, for the sea-horses 
now began to rear and plunge in a terrifying 
manner, and Pearl’s merry laughter turned to 
a scream of fear. She dropped her whip and 
the reins and clung to the sides of the 
chariot, which rocked as though it must surely 
tip over. 

“ She will be killed,” cried Joe, and beat 
against the window pane with his fist. The 
pane, which was made of crystal coral, broke 
under his blows, and the next instant the 
boy had leaped upon the sill, smashed the 
coral bars outside, and jumped to the ground. 


MOTHER CAREY OUTWITTED. 


183 


He threw himself in the way of the advanc¬ 
ing sea-horses, ready to catch their bridles 
as he had stopped many a runaway horse on 
Farmer Pringle’s Vermont farm. Pearl saw 
him, and cried, 

“Save me, save me, Joe!” 

But with a shout, the Pirates leaped from 
behind the big sea-fans which had hidden 
them till now, and threw themselves upon 
Joe. Blackbeard and Captain Kidd took 
him in their strong arms and others held 
the sea-horses till they could jump into 
the chariot beside Pearl. Then Blackbeard 
cried, 

“ Quick! Quick! Fast as you can go! ” 
And the sea-horses dashed off toward Davy 
Jones’ locker, Pearl screaming, Ruffles flap¬ 
ping his wings and crying “ Pieces of eight! ” 
and Joe struggling helplessly in the grasp of 
the Pirates. 

Mother Carey, her Chickens and the Palace 
guards heard the tumult, and rushed to the 
palace gates. But it was too late. The Char¬ 
iot was far in the distance when they reached 
the scene, and though Mother Carey sent her 


184 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


fleetest guards after the Pirates they could not 
overtake them. 

In the excitement the Corn Dodger was 
forgotten. Knowing only that he was a pris¬ 
oner, and that he must escape, though having 
no idea where he was to go, the Sprite ran 
out at a side gate of the Palace, carrying his 
ball and chain. He could not go very fast, 
but he struggled on through a maze of giant 
seaweed. Just as he thought that he might 
stop and take a breath or two, he heard a 
voice that he knew, saying, 

“ At last! ” 

He turned and saw the Canner, who, with a 
cry of delight, lifted him in his arms, ball 
and chain and all, and ran into a little clear 
space in the seaweed forest. There the poor 
Dodger saw, saddled and bridled, a monster 
shark. Upon its back leaped the Canner still 
holding the Dodger in his grasp, and cried 
to the shark, 

" Bermuda, as quick as you can possibly 
swim! ” 

The Corn Dodger screamed for help. 
Through the glass headpiece of his diving 



T'he sea-horses now began to rear and plunge 















MOTHER CAREY OUTWITTED 



suit no one could hear his voice. The Can- 
ner laughed. 

“Forty cans of corn at a dollar a can," 
he said, “and enough left over to plant an 
acre! Git ap! ” 















CHAPTER XVIII. 


AT NEPTUNE S COMMAND. 


HEN Mother Carey realized 


that she had been outwitted by Davy and 
his Pirates, she was both angry and ashamed. 
But there was no use crying over spilled 
milk, for well the fairy knew what Joe’s fate 




























































































AT NEPTUNE’S COMMAND. 


187 


would be unless she could save him. The 
Palace guards who pursued the flying chariot 
reported that Joe was securely locked in the 
hold of a wrecked vessel near Davy Jones’ 
locker, and guarded by the most savage of 
the Pirates. The Pieman, too, she was told, 
had driven Bridget from Davy’s kitchen, and 
was even now mixing a big batch of dough 
for pastry. 

44 It is just as I feared,” cried Mother Carey, 
when she heard this last report. “ They are 
going to cut Joe Miller up for pumpkin pies.” 
Then she summoned her Chickens, and bade 
them hurry to the palace of Neptune, which 
lay at the very opposite end of the world, 
under one of the southernmost seas. 

“Tell Neptune,” said Mother Carey to her 
Chickens, “all that has occurred, and beg him 
to stop Davy Jones before it is too late.” 

Without stopping even to change their 
dresses for travelling, the Chickens set off for 
the realm of Neptune. Never had such swim¬ 
ming been seen as that of the sharks which 
they rode, for the Fairies plied whip and 
spur, ' and spurs made of sea urchins, with 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


the sharpest of spines, make even a shark 
go faster. 

So eager was everyone about the coral 
palace to save Joe that nobody stopped 
to give the Corn Dodger a thought, and he 
was not missed. As for the Pirates and 
Davy, the Ancient Mariner and the Pie¬ 
man, they were so overjoyed at capturing Joe 
that the Canner’s sudden absence caused no 
comment. 

The return of the Pirates to Davy’s locker 
was hailed with shouts of joy. Davy fell on 
the Ancient Mariner’s neck and embraced him, 
while the Pirates who had been awaiting the 
success or failure of the plan capered like chil¬ 
dren out from school. 

An old wreck lay half hidden in the sand, 
near the locker, and into this they thrust Joe, 
piling rocks and seaweed against the hole that 
admitted him, till he could hardly have gotten 
out, even if a guard of ten Pirates had not 
been placed there to watch him. 

Little Pearl, who watched all this going on, 
wept pitifully, for she guessed what it meant. 
And, when she fled to the kitchen to seek 



comfort from Bridget, and found the Mer¬ 
maid cook out in the backyard, with the 
kitchen door shut against her, and the Pieman 
inside, the little girl was sure that Joe’s end 
had come. 

“ Look at him in there,” cried Bridget, “ using 
my kitchen for a bakeshop.” Through the win¬ 
dow the Pieman could be seen, his sleeves 
rolled up, and his arms thrust into a pile of 
dough which he was kneading and rolling, just 
as Pearl had often seen him do in his bakery 
at home when he was getting ready to make 
pies. 

She shuddered at the sight, and also when 
she saw some of the Pirates making a roaring 




























THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


190 

fire in the kitchen stove, and putting a great 
kettle on the stove, while others were buttering 
the insides of pie-plates and setting them 
in a row on a table near at hand. 

“ O,” Pearl cried to Bridget, “ they’re going 
to cut Joe up and make pumpkin pies of 
him.” 

“ The villains! ” said Bridget. “ I hope the 
stove will blow up.” 














AT NEPTUNE’S COMMAND. 


igi 

Even Captain Jinks, whom Pearl had counted 
as a friend, seemed happy at the thought that 
he and his fellow-boarders were soon to have 
pumpkin pie, and went about with a smile, 
smacking his lips, and now and then looking 
in at the kitchen window to see how the Pie¬ 
man was getting on. Only Midshipman Easy 
came to comfort her, and, as he said, what 
could he do against so many of the others. 

“ I promise, though,” said he, “ that I won’t 
eat one bit of the pumpkin pies made of Joe, 
though I am veiy fond of pastry.” 

Pearl thought it very nice for Midshipman 
Easy to say this, but, as far as she could see, 
it made no difference who ate the pies. That 
wouldn’t save Joe after he was once cut up 
and cooked. 

To poor Joe, in his prison in the old 
wreck, the minutes seemed like hours. It was 
very hard that he should be made into pies, 
and he wondered if it would hurt very much. 
Then he thought of all the pumpkins he had 
cut up for Jack-o’lanterns, and thought that 
perhaps this was to be his punishment. 

“ But I didn’t know I was hurting them when 


192 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


I did it,” he said to himself. “ And they 
seemed to like it. At least, they all had 
smiling faces.” All of which was very true, 
but, as Joe had made the faces himself, it 
was he, and not the pumpkins, who had caused 
the smiles. 


It was very dark in the old wreck, and Joe 






AT NEPTUNE’S COMMAND. 


193 


some place which might give him a chance to 
escape. But he could find none, and at last 
gave it up and sat down to await his fate. 
He thought of all that he had ever done, and 
most of it seemed very, very wicked. His life 
seemed to have been a failure as he looked 
back, and he thought that perhaps people would 
not be so sorry to have him go. All but 
Pearl I 

As he saw his little cousin in his mind’s 
eye, Joe could have cried, for he knew that 
Pearl loved him and would be very sad to 
have him cut up for pumpkin pies. 

“ I wish I could say good-bye to her,” he 
thought. At that moment he heard a tapping 
from outside, and a whisper, that said, 

“Joe, Joe, are you in there?” 

It was Pearl, and, hunting about, Joe found 
that the little girl was speaking through a 
knot hole in the side of the wreck. He placed 
his lips to the hole and answered, 

“Yes, Pearl, I’m here, and there’s no way 
to get out. Have you come to say good¬ 
bye ? ” 

“ O, Joe,” cried Pearl, “ don’t talk that way, 


194 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


I’m sure you’ll be saved yet, though I don’t 
know how.” 

“I’m afraid not,” said Joe. “Tell me, what 
are they doing ? ” 

Pearl told him of the Pieman’s plans, and 
how the Pirates were going about, smacking 
their lips. Joe sighed, 

“ I guess it’ll all be over soon,” he said. 
“Will you be sorry to lose me?” 

“ O, Joe 1 ” The little girl’s voice shook with 
sobs. 

“ Pearl ? ” 

“Yes, Joe, dear.” 

“ When I’m—I’m baked in pies, will you 
save a little bit to remember me by ? ” 

“ Yes, Joe, if I get a piece. But you know 
how hungry these Pirates are, and you won’t 
make so very many pies, you know.” 

Joe thought for a moment. 

“ No,” he said, “ I suppose not. But, Pearly?” 

“Y-yes, Joe, dear?” 

“ See if you can’t get some of the seeds 
and plant them on the farm. Then when they 
grow and get to be big pumpkins-” 

But Pearl could not hear the rest of Joe’s * 



sentence, for at that moment she heard a shout 
from the house, and saw Blackbeard and some 
of the other Pirates coming toward the wreck. 
In the midst of the group was the one- 
legged Pirate, Long John Silver, with Ruffles 
perched on his shoulder, and the bird was 
screaming, 

“ Pieces of eight! Pieces of eight! Cut him 
up ! Cut him up! ” 

And in John Silver’s hand there was a long 
knife ! 










196 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


They were coming after Joe. Unable to 
stand the sight, Pearl covered her face with 
her hands as the foremost of the Pirates 
reached the wreek and savagely began to 
tear away the rocks and seaweed from the 
opening. 

“ Pm very sorry, little girl,” said Davy Jones, 
as he saw Pearl, “ but the Pirates will have 

pumpkin pies, and as there’s no other way-” 

“ Don’t you speak to me, you cruel, heart¬ 
less, mean man,” cried Pearl. “ And you just 
wait, all of you! You’ll be sorry if you ever 
touch my little cousin ! ” 

For a moment the Pirates stood still. Then 
John Silver said, gruffly, 

“ Heave ahead, mates! I’m getting hungry.” 
“ Yes,” said the Ancient Mariner, “ and the 
dough’s ready! ” 

With a shout, the Pirates again went at the 
barricade. Then Captain Kidd and Blackbeard 
led Joe out, and Silver, knife in hand, began 
to stump around the boy, who stood like a 
statue, determined to show them that he was 
ready to meet his fate bravely.. 

“ Where shall I begin ? ” asked Silver. 



AT NEPTUNE’S COMMAND. 


197 


“Anywhere,” said the Ancient Mariner. 

“ Then here goes,” said Silver. 

There came an expectant look on the faces 
of the assembled Pirates as John Silver made 
ready to attack Joe. 

“ Aha! ” chuckled Captain Kidd to his neigh¬ 
bor, “ at last we’re going to have pumpkin 
pies ! ” 

“ But isn’t he brave ? ” exclaimed Black- 
beard. “ What a fine Pirate that boy would 
have made ! ” 

“ One ! two! three! ” said Silver. “ Now-!” 

And then—there came a blare of trumpets. 
Silver dropped the knife, and Davy and the 
other Pirates stood as though turned to stone. 

“ Neptune! ” cried Davy, in a solemn whis¬ 
per. 

A beautiful dolphin, all the colors of the 
rainbow, came into sight; then another, and 
another, and then hundreds, and Pearl, look¬ 
ing up, saw that they were harnessed to 
a great, gorgeous coach, made all of mother- 
of-pearl and coral. And in the coach 
sat a gigantic figure, with a long beard that 
reached to his waist. On his head was a 


198 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


crown, and in his hand a scepter with three 
points like a pitchfork. In a voice of thun¬ 
der he cried, 

“ Stop! I, Neptune, King of the Winds 
and Waves, command ! ” 




















CHAPTER XIX. 



UP FROM THE DEPTHS. 


N getting Mother Carey’s 


message from the Chickens, Neptune at once 
hurried to save Joe Miller, for he had been 
receiving many complaints about the way 
affairs were being managed in Davy Jones’ 
















200 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


realm since the Pirates began to gain power 
there, and this, he thought, gave him a good 
chance to show his authority and teach Davy 
a lesson. 

As you have seen, he arrived just in time, 
for in another instant Silver’s knife would 
have put an end to Joe Miller. 

Neptune paid no attention to Davy or the 
Pirates, but said to Joe, 

“ Come here, sir, and tell me what all this 
means.” 

Joe and Pearl ran to Neptune’s side, and 
in a few words told him all that happened. 
His rage was terrible to behold. He shook 
his great head till the waves trembled, and, 
as the Ancient Mariner whispered to the Pie¬ 
man, many a ship on the surface of the sea 
must have felt the effects of that shake of 
Neptune’s head. This seemed to appease his 
wrath somewhat, for when he spoke again his 
tone was more gentle, though still far from 
mild. 

“ How dare you do such a thing as you 
were about to do without first consulting me?” 
he demanded of Davy Jones. 


UP FROM THE DEPTHS. 


201 


“ O, King Neptune,” replied Davy, in a 
voice shaking with fear, “ do not be too 
hard on poor old Davy. I meant well. My 
Pirates have insisted on having pumpkin 
pies, and I tried every way I could think 
of to raise some pumpkins for them. But I 
couldn’t. At last I heard of Joe Miller and 
his wonderful secret for making pumpkins 
grow anywhere.” 

“Is that so, my boy?” asked Neptune. 

“Yes, your Majesty,” replied Joe, “I did 
know how. But when the Corn Dodger 
changed me into a pumpkin-head I forgot all 
about it.” 

“The Corn Dodger!” exclaimed Neptune. 
“ So that Sprite has had a hand in this, too. 
Where is he now ? ” 

When he heard that the Corn Dodger was 
a prisoner in Mother Carey’s palace, he sum¬ 
moned the Fairy at once. 

Mother Carey hurried before Neptune, and 
was pleasantly greeted, for the King of the 
Waves knew how good she was, and con¬ 
sidered her the best of all the fairies who 
governed his regions. 



But when he 
asked her to bring 
the Corn Dodger 
before him, Mother 
Carey was obliged 
to bend her head 
and say, 

“ Alas, Mighty 
King, I cannot, for 
in the excitement 
of Joe’s capture 
by the Pirates the 
Corn Dodger es¬ 
caped from my palace, 
and, though I have 
searched every nook ^ 
and grotto, I cannot find him.” 

“ Ask the Canner,” cried the Ancient 
Mariner. “He always keeps an eye on the 
Corn Dodger.” 

But the Canner was nowhere to be found, 
as you will of course guess. 

“The Corn Dodger must be found,” said 
Neptune. “ I can confer a special power on 
him so that he can change this boy back as 
he was, and then he will remember his secret. 









“ The Corn Dodger must be found,” said Neptune . 



















UP FROM THE DEPTHS. 


203 


He will be willing to give it to Davy, and 
may then return, with his little cousin, to his 
home on land. Find the Corn Dodger, and I 
will forgive everyone.” 

But, of course, no one could find the 
Corn Dodger, though Davy and the Pirates 
searched everywhere. For well Davy knew 
that Neptune would punish him severely 
unless he got Joe out of the trouble which 
the Pirates’ desire for pumpkin pies had 
caused. 

“ Hurry,” cried Neptune. “ I am wasting 
time. If the Corn Dodger is not found in 
five more minutes I shall visit swift punish¬ 
ment on all connected with Davy Jones’ 
locker! ” 

But at the end of five minutes Davy was 
obliged to throw himself at Neptune’s feet, 
saying, 

“ Alas, King Neptune, I beg for mercy. 
The Corn Dodger has disappeared.” 

“ Then,” said Neptune, “ I suppose I must 
think of your punishment. Let me see—what 
shall it be?” 

Davy and the Pirates knelt trembling as 


CS*d-4 


204 THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 

Neptune thought. At the end of a minute 
he had not hit on anything that he felt 
would be terrible enough. At the end of two 
minutes he raised his head, and smiled. 

“ I have it,” he said. 

But what the punishment was to be will 
never be known, for just then Mother Carey 
cried, 


“Pause, I beg you, your Majesty, till you 
receive this message.” One of her guards led 









had escaped. Tied about 
his tail was a note, ad¬ 
dressed to Mother Carey, 
which said: 


IF YOU EVER COME TO BERMUDA, DROP 
IN TO SEE ME. I HAVE A SECOND-HAND 
DIVING-SUIT WHICH BELONGS TO YOU. 

IKE CANNEM. 

(My motto is—“ I CAN.”) 

Then Mother Carey explained about having 
given the Corn Dodger the diving-suit to pro- 



206 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


tect himself from the Canner, and the rest 
was plain. 

“ Well,” said Neptune, “ if the Corn Dodger 
is in Bermuda, that doesn’t alter the fact that 
he must be caught.” 

“But who’s to do it?” asked Davy Jones. 

“Who?” repeated Neptune, with a frown. 
“ Why, every one of you. Away to Bermuda 
at once, I command you, and never dare to 
return till you have found the Corn Dodger 
and made him change Joe Miller back into 
his right form. Away ! ” 

There was another flare of the trumpets, 
the dolphins fell into line before the great 
coach, and, with a wave of his scepter, Nep¬ 
tune was away. 

Davy and the others looked after him 
blankly, and it was quite a minute before 
any one spoke. Then Mother Carey said, 

“We must start at once. Joe and Pearl, 
give me your hand, each of you.” 

She clasped her fingers over Pearl’s and 
Joe’s, there was a little ruffling of the waves 
as her wings began to move, and in the next 
instant Mother Carey, the children, her Chick- 


UP FROM THE DEPTHS. 


207 


ens, Davy, the Ancient Mariner, the Pieman 
and the Pirates were shooting upwards through 
the water. A moment later Pearl looked 
back, and Davy Jones’ locker was just visible, 
with some one, whom she took to be Bridget, 
in the doorway, waving a dish-towel in fare¬ 
well. 










Cap, one of Mother Carey’s Chickens, said to 
Pearl, 


“Aren’t you dreadfully glad that you are 
going home ? ” 

“ Home ? ” said Pearl. 


But we’re not. 













THE PIEMAN’S TREACHERY. 


209 


We’re going to Bermuda, and I don’t know 
where that is.” 

“To be sure,” said Anemone, another of the 
Chickens, “ it’s a long distance irom your home 
in Vermont, on some islands out in the ocean, 
but it’s land, any way.” 

“ Besides,” said Nautilus, a third of the 
Chickens, “why can’t one of us go to Vermont 
and tell your papa and mamma, so that they 
can come to Bermuda for you?” 

Mother Carey everheard this, and immedi¬ 
ately dispatched White Cap, Anemone and 
Nautilus with the message to Farmer Pringle 
and his wife, telling them that Joe and Pearl 
were safe and sound, and asking them to 
take the first steamer for Bermuda. The three 
Chickens kissed Pearl and Joe good-bye, and 
were off like a flash of light. 

Luckily, it was midnight when the strange party 
arrived at the surface of the ocean and stopped 
to take breath on a flat reef with fantastic 
pinnacles called “ North Rock,” a few miles dis¬ 
tant from the main island of the Bermudas, 
which, as you know, are made up of a number 
of islands of all sizes, some of them inhabited 


210 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


and others quite desert. The Pieman and 
Pearl, being the only persons in the party 
who would not cause surprise by their ap¬ 
pearance unannounced, were sent to the main 
island to prepare the natives and tourists, of 
whom there are always many from Northern 
cities, for the arrival of the others. Lest 
the Pieman should attempt to run away, 









THE PIEMAN’S TREACHERY. 


21 I 


them, first putting on their invisible caps, 
so that they could not be seen by human 
eyes. 

In an hour or two they returned, having 
engaged rooms for every one at the principal 
hotel, and the whole party, under cover of 
night, hurried ashore and were soon in bed, 
getting a much-needed rest. 

With the first rays of the sun, Mother Carey 
and Davy Jones were up and off to find the 
Canner’s factory, where they knew they should 
discover the Corn Dodger. 

“ The only fear is,” said Davy, “ that he’s 
cut him up already. In which case -” 

“ In which case,” said Mother Carey, “ I am 
sure we shall still find some way of making 
him do what we wish. Anyway, we must find 
him.” 

The Canner’s factory was a long building, 
made of the white stone of which every house 
on the island is built. Over the door was a 
sign, which read: 

AMERICAN AND CANADIAN CANNING COMPANY 


WE CAN CAN.” 



212 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


Ike Cannem himself greeted them, and pre¬ 
tended to be very glad to see them. He 
asked Mother Carey if she wished him to send 
the diving-suit to her home by express, or 
if she had come to take it herself. But when 
Davy told him what they were there for his 
manner changed. 

“Give up the Corn Dodger?” he cried. 
“Never! Besides, even if I were willing, it is 
too late. Come.” 

He led the way to the canning-room in 



the factory. There were 
piles and piles of cans 
of all kinds and sizes, 
some containing peaches, 
pears, apples — every¬ 
thing, in fact, that you 


7 Wk would think of can¬ 






ning, and some things 
that you never would 
think of. At a work¬ 
bench men were busy 
making cans of tin, 
and, as the party en- 
| tered the room, they 






THE PIEMAN’S TREACHERY. 


213 


had just finished the largest can you ever 
saw. 

It was five feet high, as big round as a 
barrel, and would hold gallons of anything. 

“ See that ? ” asked the Canner. “ That’s 
for the Dodger. I thought at first of putting 
him into many small cans, but then I thought 
it would be a pity to scatter him around at 
random, so I’m going to put him all in that 
one giant can and send him to the President 
of the United States, who is very fond of 
canned corn. When he gets this, I think that 
he will appoint me to some nice office.” 

Mother Carey and Davy scarcely heard what 
the Canner was saying, they were so horrified. 

“But,” said Mother Carey, “you haven’t-” 

“ Cooked the Dodger ? ” said the Canner. 
“ Oh, dear, yes—long ago. That is, nearly all 
of him. All but these.” And he took from 
his pocket a handful of kernels of corn, which 
he shook. “ I’m going to plant these,” he 
said. 

With sorrowful hearts Mother Carey and 
Davy Jones hurried back to the hotel, where 
they told the others what they had learned. 


214 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


The Pirates were very angry, and Joe and 
Pearl were in despair. Mr. and Mrs. Pringle, 
the Schoolmaster and Hiram had already 
started from home on a new automobile-boat 
that would bring them to Bermuda that same 
day, and the children thought of how disap¬ 
pointed they would all be to hear that Joe 
must always remain a pumpkin-boy! 

“So the Canner won’t give up the Corn 
Dodger, eh?” said Captain Kidd. “We’ll see. 
Come, boys,” he shouted to the other Pirates, 
“we used to know these islands pretty well, 
eh ? And our word was law here, and we 
were feared, weren’t we ? ” 

“ Right you are, Captain,” said the others. 

“ Then on to the canning factory,” said Cap¬ 
tain Kidd, drawing his cutlass, and the Pirati¬ 
cal crew started on a run, with Captain Kidd 
leading and Long John Silver stumping along 
last, with Ruffles on his shoulder, screeching, 

“ Pieces of eight! Scuttle the ship ! Scuttle 
the ship! ” 

Naturally, the Pirates’ appearance in the 
streets made a sensation, but not so much 
at this particular time as if ordinarily would. 



The Piratical crew started on a 
run with Captain Kidd leading . 






\ 



THE PIEMAN’S TREACHERY. 


215 


For, strangely enough, the people in Bermuda 
were in almost the same trouble that the 
Pirates were. They were hungry for pumpkin 
pies ! 

All through the country, north and south, 
everywhere that pumpkins grow, there had 
been a scarcity of the vegetable, and, as we 
said before, you know how it is when people 
cannot get a thing. They begin to want it 
more then than they would if they could 
have plenty. So, 
when the Bermudans 
heard that all this 
commotion was 
caused by a desire 
for pumpkin pies, 
they forgot about the 
strange appearance 
of the Pirates and 
thought only of 
pumpkins. 

The sight of Joe, 

Mother Carey 

hi 



2l6 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


thought, when she found this to be the state 
of affairs, might be dangerous to the people, 
and perhaps, too tempting, so she told her 
Chickens to be very careful of him and not to 
let him get far from them during her absence. 

Now, the Pieman, being the only mortal 
who had been concerned in the transformation 
and abduction of Joe, heard of the coming of 
Farmer Pringle and the other Vermonters with 
fear and trembling. What would they do to 
him ? he thought. He told his fears to the 
proprietor of the hotel, and asked for protec¬ 
tion. 

The proprietor of the hotel was a man who 
always thought of his guests and how to please 
them, fie had been much worried over his 
inability to ; furnish them with pumpkin pies, 
and now he saw a chance to give them what 
they craved. So he said to the Pieman: 

“ Look here, Mr. Uoe, if I promise to save 
you from the anger of those people, you must 
do something for me.” 

“I’ll do anything in the world,” said the 
Pieman. 

“ I hold you to your promise,” said the Pro- 


THE PIEMAN’S TREACHERY. 


217 


prietor, promptly, “and what I demand is this: 
You must get that pumpkin boy for me. If 
you do I’ll put you on board a fast steamer 
sailing from here in an hour, with plenty of 
money for your needs, and you can escape 
punishment.” 

The Pieman hesitated, but fear of 
what Farmer Pringle would do to 
him became at last so strong in 
his heart that he consented to the 
Proprietor’s demands. 












2 l8 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


He felt rather sneaky, I have no doubt, 
as he went to the room where Joe Miller 
was staying in hiding, and passed the guard 
of Chickens, who let him go in without sus¬ 
pecting his evil designs. 

“Come, Joe,” said he to the boy, “it must 
be dull in here all alone. Wouldn’t you like 
to take a walk?” 

“ But Mother Carey said I wasn’t to go 
away from the hotel,” said Joe. 

There was a double meaning in the Pie¬ 
man’s words as he replied, 

“ O, that needn’t worry you. You won’t go 
away from the hotel.” 

So, leading the innocent pumpkin-boy by 
the hand, the Pieman passed out of the room, 
by the guileless guard of fairies, and down 
stairs to the hotel office, where the Proprietor 
awaited him. 

“Is this the young man?” asked the Pro¬ 
prietor, taking Joe by the hand. 

“This is the young man,” said the Pieman. 

“ I’m pleased to meet him,” said the Pro¬ 
prietor, at the same time slipping a well-filled 
purse into the Pieman’s hand. “Won’t you 


THE PIEMAN’S TREACHERY. 


219 


let me take him around a little, and show him 
the kitchen ? ” 

“Certainly,” said the Pieman, and then, in a 
whisper, “ what time does the boat go ? ” 

“ In fifteen minutes,” said the Proprietor. 
“Come on, my little man.” 

The Pieman turned away as the Proprietor 
led Joe in behind the desk and through 
the doorway marked 
“ Private.” Perhaps he 
could not bear to see 
the last of the lad whom 
he had so treacherously 
deceived. Perhaps he 







220 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


was looking for the ship, which lay at the 
wharf below. But the next moment he saw 

up the road. 
It was F armer 

Pringle, his wife, the 


a procession coming 











then found, you remember how glad your 
parents were to see you. So you can imagine 
the greeting which Mr. and Mrs. Pringle gave 












222 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


Pearl. The Schoolmaster, too, gave her so 
many kisses that she lost count, and Hiram 
told her how ashamed he was for his part in 
having caused Joe and her so much trouble. 

Of course, Hiram was speedily forgiven, 
because everyone knew that he had been 
influenced by the Pieman, and that he had 
probably learned a wholesome lesson. 

“ But where is Joe ? ” asked Farmer Prin¬ 
gle, as soon as he had kissed his little girl. 

“ Right upstairs in his room,” said Pearl. 
But as they started upstairs Pearl stopped 
them, to tell them how kind Mother Carey 
had been, and that they must not blame poor 
Davy Jones too much for all that had 
happened to them. 

Just see how Fortune rules us! If they had 
gone directly to Joe’s room and found him 
absent, they would have searched for him and, 
most likely, found him before it was too late. 
Or, anyway, they might have caught the wicked 
Pieman before his boat sailed. By the time 
that Pearl had told them whom to punish and 
whom to forgive, the Pieman’s steamer was a 
speck in the distance, and as for poor Joe-! 



JOE MILLER’S RETURN. 


223 


But at last Mrs. Pringles impatience to see 
Joe was too much, and she said, 

“ Never mind the rest of the story now, 
Pearl, till after IVe given that poor boy a 
good hug and kiss.” 

“Yes,” said the Schoolmaster, “and I want 
to hear if he discovered anything of interest 
under the sea.” 

“Come on,” said Farmer Pringle. “Joe first, 
and then Mother Carey and all the other kind 
folk who have helped you two. As for the 
wicked ones, we shall see! ” 

But when they went up to Joe’s room, the 
Chickens told them that he had gone for a 
walk about the hotel with the Pieman. They 
looked everywhere, upstairs and downstairs, for 
him, but Joe was nowhere to be found. 

Neither was the Pieman. Then there was 
scurrying about to catch him, for everyone 
supposed that he had taken Joe somewhere 
and hidden him. 

“But,” said Mother Carey, “he cannot get 
off the island, for no boat sails till to-mor¬ 
row.” Little did they guess the truth, and that 
at that very instant Joe Miller, or the pump- 


224 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


kin-boy that had taken his place, was spread 
over several large pie plates, in the hotel 
pantry, while the chef was adding to the 
printed bill of fare for dinner the words, 

“ SPECIAL TO-DAY—PUMPKIN PIE.” 



Of course, Mother Carey was very angry 
with her Chickens for 


Bill or Fare 


Special Today 

Pumpkin Pie 
























JOE MILLER’S RETURN. 


225 


having allowed the Pieman to hoodwink them, 
and they set off to search every part of the 
islands for the missing Joe, with their minds 
made up to find him at any cost. 

In the meantime, the Pirates, having made a 
raid on Ike Cannem’s factory, returned in tri¬ 
umph, bearing on their shoulders the great 
can, which they had found all filled and 
soldered up, with a label in many colors 
across the front, saying, 

“CANNED CORN-DODGER VARIETY. VERY FINE.” 

A pitched battle had taken place between 
the Pirates and the hands at the canning fac¬ 
tory, in which the Pirates had come off vic¬ 
tors, as their having the can of corn proved. 

Singing a merry song, they came up the 
road leading to the hotel, and placed the great 
can on the lawn. 

“ We’ve got the Dodger,” cried Blackbeard, 
“ he’s in the can.” 

“Yes,” cried John Silver, “but what good is 
that? He’s all in little pieces, and I never 
heard of a Sprite in little pieces being any use 
at all.” 


226 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


Farmer Pringle was examining the big can 
as the Pirates spoke. He tapped it with his 
cane, and as he did so a voice came from 
within, saying, 

“ Let me out, let me out, and I’ll do any¬ 
thing you wish.” 

“ It’s the Dodger’s voice,” said Farmer Prin¬ 
gle. Then, addressing the can, 

“ If we let you out can you change Joe 
Miller back into a boy again ? ” 

“Yes,” said the Dodger. “Only let me out.” 

“ But you’re all in little bits, aren’t you ? ” 

“ That’s nothing,” said the voice. “ Once a 
mowing-machine cut me up smaller than the 
Canner has, and I joined together all right. 
Let me out, and you’ll see.” 

No one in the party had a can-opener, 
however, except the Ancient Mariner, and he 
was at first afraid to open the can, dreading 
the wrath of the Dodger for having got into 
this fix on the Mariner’s account. Finally, he 
was forced to cut the can and out popped 
the Dodger. 

As the cover of the can was raised, the 
Sprite seemed to regain his shape instantly, 


JOE MILLER’S RETURN. 


227 












228 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


want to change him back as he should be, 
and have all this thing over with. I’ll never 
try any more tricks such as I played on him. 
Let him appear.” 

But the Chickens, who had returned from 
a careful search of the whole island, shook 
their heads when asked if they had found 
Joe. 

“Where can he be?” asked Davy Jones. 
“ He hasn’t dried up and gone to seed, I 
hope.” 

“ And where’s the Pieman ? ” asked Mother 
Carey. “It seems strange that neither can be 
found.” 

As she spoke they heard a cry of alarm, 
and saw Pearl running toward them from the 
hotel dining-room, with a bill of fare in her 
hand. 

“ Look, look! ” cried the little girl, holding 
the sheet of paper toward her father. “ They’ve 
got pumpkin pie for dinner.” 

“ I see it all,” cried Mother Carey, and, 
pointing to the Proprietor who was trying to 
hide behind the door, she added, 

“Seize that man!” 


JOE MILLER’S RETURN. 


229 


The Pirates rushed at the Proprietor and 
made him a prisoner. Thoroughly frightened, 
he confessed his wicked act, and said, 

“ Please forgive me. My guests were mak¬ 
ing my life miserable with their calls for 
pumpkin pies, and I had to do it or close 
my hotel.” 






230 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


said Davy Jones, “ but in this case I wish you 
had closed the hotel.” 

“But what’s to be done?” cried Farmer 
Pringle. “ Are we never to see Joe again ? ” 

“ And are we to be banished from our home 
under the sea forever?” shouted the Pirates. 

“ If I only had the pumpkin that made Joe’s 
head,” said the Corn Dodger, “ I could do the 
trick.” 

“But that’s made into pies, too, isn’t?” asked 
Mother Carey of the Proprietor. 

“ No,” said the Proprietor. “ That was hol¬ 
low, and I threw it overboard.” 

“ Overboard! ” yelled the Pirates, and some 
of them started for the shore to leap into the 
water and search for the pumpkin. 

But at that moment, as all turned their faces 
seaward, they saw a strange sight. The sun 
had set, and over the waves appeared what at 
first they took for the rising moon. But on 
closer inspection they saw that it was not the 
moon, but a grinning pumpkin, lighted from 
within by some magic power. 

“ It’s Joe Miller’s pumpkin-head! ” cried 
Davy Jones. 



toward the strange object, which seemed to 
be rising higher and higher above the waves. 
Then she spoke, in a low, musical voice, 

saying, . 

“ Pumpkin-head, I command you, in the 
name of Neptune, King of the Winds and 
Waves, approach!” 















232 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


Instantly the pumpkin began to sink toward 
the sea. In another moment it rested on the 
water, and then came slowly toward land. 

All ran to the water’s edge, and, as the 
pumpkin touched the coral shore, the Corn 
Dodger, stretching out his hand, said, 

“ Higgery, piggery, diggery den ! 

Joe Miller, turn into a boy again!” 

“ Oh,” cried Pearl, “ it’s sunk ! ” 

And indeed everyone but the Corn Dodger 
and Mother Carey thought that they had seen 
the last of the Pumpkin-Head. Farmer Pringle 
stormed, his wife wept and Pearl sobbed 
pitifully. 

But suddenly their tears gave way to shouts 
of joy, for the water was churned into a cloud 
of foam, in which the Pumpkin-Head ap¬ 
peared, several feet above them and some 
distance from shore. 

As all eyes were fixed upon it, it seemed 
to be changing its shape, to be losing its 
outlines, and struggling to become something 
else. 

“ I know what’s the matter,” cried the Corn 




4 4 Pumpkin-head , I command you approach 




















\ 


JOE MILLER’S RETURN. 


233 


Dodger. “ My power to make the transfor¬ 
mation doesn't begin till midnight.” 

“ Must we wait ? ” demanded the Pirates. 

“Yes,” said the Sprite, “unless — unless you 
all set your watches ahead to twelve o’clock! ” 

This was no sooner said than everyone who 
had a watch turned the hands around till they 
pointed to twelve o’clock. 

“ Now,” said the Corn Dodger, “ it’s all 
right! ” 

And it was: for when they looked at the 
Pumpkin-Head it began to have a body, then 
arms and legs, and finally, with a struggle, 
it changed entirely, and before them in the 
air appeared Joe Miller, just as he had been 
before the Corn Dodger granted his hasty 
wish in the cornfield. 

Without a word he rushed into Pearl’s arms, 
and the two little cousins met in a fond, 
though damp, embrace. 

“ And now,” said the Corn Dodger, when he 
saw that Joe was all right once more, “ if you’ll 
excuse me, I’ll be going. I see the Canner 
coming along the shore, and this is no place 
for me. Good-bye ! ” 


234 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


Before anyone could stop him, the Sprite 
dashed away, and the last seen of him he was 
nearing a cornfield, with the Canner in hot 
pursuit, but with little chance of overtaking 
him. Let us hope the Dodger was not caught! 






7 






















CHAPTER XXII. 


AND LAST. 


HERE was a great celebration 
in the hotel parlors that evening, and Joe 
and Pearl were the center of attraction. The 
Proprietor destoyed all the pumpkin pies that 















236 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


the Pieman’s wickedness had provided, and in 
return Joe gave him his secret for growing 
pumpkins, so that by next season he was 
sure to have plenty for his guests. 

The boy remembered every detail of his 
secret, the moment he regained his proper 
shape, and, of course, told Davy Jones just 
how to make pumpkins grow in great num¬ 
bers in his garden under the seas. So Davy, 
happy as could be, said good-bye, and, with 
the Pirates, Midshipman Easy and the Ancient 
Mariner, bade Bermuda farewell, leaped over¬ 
board and was seen no more. 

Joe and Pearl were for having Mother Carey 
go home with them for a long visit, but the 
good fairy pleaded that neither she nor her 
Chickens had the proper gowns for such a 
trip. Besides, she was eager to return to her 
palace in the coral groves. So she, too, said 
good-bye, and vanished, but not before she 
had promised to come to see the Pringles 
in Vermont next summer. 

Since that day there has never been a 
pumpkin famine anywhere in the world. In¬ 
deed, the luscious vegetables grow in places 


where they never used to be known. Very 
likely this is due to Joe Miller, who gave 
his wonderful secret to everyone who asked 
for it; so that many a boy, as he makes a 













238 


THE PEARL AND THE PUMPKIN. 


Jack-o’lantern for Hallowe’en, can thank him 
for having kept pumpkins from being for¬ 
gotten. 

The Pringle farm is to-day more famous 
than ever for its pumpkins, all raised under 
Joe Miller’s direction. As he works away in 
the pumpkin patch, Pearl, who is now quite a 
young lady, often comes to watch him, and 
when the corn-shocks in the field near by 
rustle, she will say, 

“Joe, I guess the Corn Dodger is around 
to-day.” 

And an old, green and red Parrot, perched 
on Pearl’s shoulder will flap his wings when he 
hears this, and say, 

“ Pieces of eight, pieces of eight! Give us 
pumpkin pies! ” 

This makes Joe laugh, and he replies, 

“ Be quiet, Ruffles, or we’ll send you back to 
John Silver.” 

They often hear from Mother Carey and 
Davy Jones, and now and then comes a mes¬ 
sage from the Ancient Mariner, which always 
ends with, 

“Give my regards to my friend, Mr. Cruller.” 


AND LAST. 


239 



Of course, he means the Pieman. By the 
way, what became of him ? But why speak 
of disagreeable people! 












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